“It’s just a perfect payment mechanism for people who want to do bad things.” — Lee Reiners, FinTech professor at Duke University . Mei Mei Soe was using LinkedIn to find a new job when a friendly, fellow Chinese-speaker asked to connect. Mei Mei, 42, has suffered with debilitating nerve [Keep reading]
Several large data brokers profited for years by selling what are known, cruelly, as “suckers lists” to criminals who used them to fine-tune scams designed to cheat elderly and vulnerable people, a new report on LawfareBlog explains. It’s a stomach-churning analysis which shines a harsh light on an open secret [Keep reading]
A new season of The Perfect Scam has launched and we begin with a story that is very sweet. It’s actually about cookies. Not the kind that track you, but the kind you can eat! Unfortunately, before Lura’s Kitchen was able to send out its first order of cookies, criminals [Keep reading]
Walmart employees were trained to “turn a blind eye” when criminals used their money transfer services for fraud, and in some cases, store workers were in on it, claims the Federal Trade Commission in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday. At one point, Walmart’s written policy stated, “If you suspect fraud, [Keep reading]
Bryan Palma, CEO of cybersecurity company Trellix, spoke recently at the biggest cybersecurity conference in the world, the RSA conference, and issued quite the call to action. Social media companies are soulless, he said. Tech workers who want to find more meaning in their work…well, there’s plenty of work to [Keep reading]
A million appeals for justice, and 14 reversals. That’s the scorecard from the Facebook Oversight Board’s first annual report, released this week. The creative project has plenty going for it, and I think some future oversight board can benefit greatly from the experience of this experiment, launched by Facebook parent [Keep reading]
A class-action lawsuit claims Zelle consumers hit by fraud are up against a “secret” bank policy to deny consumer dispute rights, even when the victimized account holders are entitled to Regulation E protections. Given the details shared in a New York Times story published today, and the pile of examples [Keep reading]
How many sugars do you want with that coffee? And how much surveillance? If you were “cheating” on your favorite coffee shop with a different one, would you mind if an app told on you? Earlier this month, Canada’s Privacy Commissioner found that the Tim Hortons chain violated the law [Keep reading]
Alexis Conran is a rare combination of smart, suave, mysterious and … good-hearted. He’s the star of an international hit TV show called The Real Hustle, aired first on the BBC. A professional magician, Alexis and his band of “criminals” perform scams on unsuspecting consumers in the show — all [Keep reading]
If you are a victim of Zelle fraud, I finally have some good news for you. Two U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), are now demanding answers from the instant payment tool. A bright light is finally shining on the terrible crimes that Zelle and its banking partners have enabled. [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan