INTRODUCTION Americans have become less trusting in recent decades, plenty of surveys seem to agree. Yet trust is a funny thing. People say they don’t trust tech companies, particularly social media companies, but they hungrily gobble up Tweets and Facebook updates all same. Still, lack of trust in … seemingly everything…is hurting us, a [Keep reading]
Wire fraud scams during real estate transactions are perhaps the most believable kind of digital con I’ve ever seen. Buying or selling homes is already an incredibly stressful time. Consumers are classic “tourists” in the land of title companies and wire transfers, vulnerable because everything feels unfamiliar. Add to that [Keep reading]
Almost 20 years ago, I wrote a book called Your Evil Twin – Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic. At the time, many consumers hadn’t even heard of identity theft. Criminal imposters were just getting started. Today, it feels like ID theft is everywhere, hitting millions of consumers every year, roughly [Keep reading]
INTRODUCTION Perhaps you were a holdout against the notion that something is terribly wrong with the Internet. The events surrounding Jan. 6 — both the plot to attack the Capitol and tech giants’ reaction to it — surely make that position harder to defend. The argument that democracy is under [Keep reading]
As most readers know, I have a dog named Rusty. I’m on my third rescue dog now. Lucky, Rusty’s older brother, played a big part in a lot of stories I’ve written, so I was really excited to talk with today’s guests in The Perfect Scam podcast, Danny and Alison, [Keep reading]
It seems like an easy enough question to answer: When will everyone in America who wants a vaccine be able to get one? That question implies another one: Why is our current vaccine distribution system such a cluster****? I’ll begin with the end of this story, which is: Best as [Keep reading]
Former Florida guardian Rebecca Fierle was arrested last year and charged with aggravated abuse of an elderly person after she signed a do not resuscitate order on behalf of a 75-year-old man in her care — against his will — and he died when his feeding tube was capped. That’s [Keep reading]
Jonathan Walton: So, unpleasant stuff. Mair Smyth: Okay. Jonathan Walton: You’ve been lying to us the whole time about everything Mair Smyth: About what? Jonathan Walton: The whole time. That was a lie. That last four grand you needed that came out of nowhere, that was a lie. You’ve [Keep reading]
INTRODUCTION: As cries of censorship,”de-platforming” and domestic terrorism wash over the Internet, it’s time to have a long-postponed conversation about free speech and moderation in the age of the digital megaphone. There are no easy answers. Donald Trump has pushed many Internet-age values to their limit. Duke University’s Phil Napoli [Keep reading]
“So, the Hollywood Reporter received a tip from Jonathan himself in, I believe it was August 2019. And I believe the subject line was something like, “Reality Producer Conned Out of $100,000 by ‘Irish Heiress Con Artist.’” And that, I mean the email had me at Irish Heiress Con Artist [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan