Bob Sullivan’s podcast projects

Bob is currently the host of AARP’s The Perfect Scam podcast. Listeners ride along weekly as scam victims and professional con artists tell their stories. A 2023 Webby award winner

Debugger is a podcast about technology and democracy, produced with help from Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and the Kenan Institute for Ethics.

Breach is a deep-dive audio documentary that investigates history’s biggest hackers. Bob is co-host with Alia Tavakolian of Spoke Media. Season 1 uncovers the role of Russia in the massive Yahoo hack; Season 2 examines the comedy of errors that led to the Equifax breach. Sponsored by Carbonite. A Shorty Award finalist.

No Place to Hide is a 6-episode miniseries examining the state of privacy in America, from abusive digital police tactics to abusive romantic partners who hunt down victims through cyberspace. Bob co-hosts with Spoke Media’s Alia Tavakolian. Part fiction, part non-fiction. Sponsored by Intel.

“So, Bob?” is a weekly investigation of the unintended consequences of technology.

LATEST EPISODES

AI=layoffs. But will AI=Grammy Awards? Part 2 of our Debugger podcast series, Sugar High

February 27, 2026 Bob Sullivan 0

The parent company of Cash App, After Pay and Square laid off nearly half its staff this week. Wall Street cheered, sending the stock up nearly 20%. Get used to headlines like this. Owner Jack Dorsey — the founder of Twitter — claims AI enabled the workforce slashing. My hunch [Keep reading]

Sugar High, Part 1: Is AI the Future of ‘Music?’ – a Debugger podcast with Tift Merritt

February 13, 2026 Bob Sullivan 0

The next time you fire up your favorite streaming service, the music you hear might be made by a robot. Maybe you don’t care; you’re just looking for something to help you kill those 30 minutes on the treadmill. But you should care. The sound you might not hear is [Keep reading]

Why banana bread is the solution to the world’s fraud problem

December 1, 2025 Bob Sullivan 1

By any measure you can find, fraud is soaring in the U.S. and around the world. I spent an hour on WHYY radio recently discussing the causes for this, but I can boil it down to one concept: big, uncaring companies have dehumanized customers and employees alike, creating a perfect [Keep reading]

Thanksgiving was stolen from this mom; a taxpayer hacking scandal was revealed

October 31, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

UPDATE 10/31/2025 — With SNAP benefits about to be suspended due to the government shutdown, I checked the “theft scoreboard” to see if there’d been any improvement in this situation. In fact, it’s grown worse. More than $100 million was stolen in the most recent quarter, and the total is [Keep reading]

From homeless to helping North Korea’s weapons program; the vexing problem of laptop farms

October 13, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

It’s a dark, cluttered room full of bookshelves, each shelf jam-packed with laptop computers. There are dozens of them humming away, lights flickering. And each one has a Post-It note attached with a single name on it. And there’s a pink purse just hanging off the side of one of [Keep reading]

Yes, there is a 9-1-1 for scam victims. Get to know the guardian angels of the Internet — AARP’s Fraud Watch Network

September 4, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

Many years ago, a very smart book editor I worked with (Jill Schwartzman at Dutton now) gently admonished me because I failed to include resources for consumers in my tirades about the mistreatment of consumers. So was born concepts like “Red Tape Tips” I’d include at the end of my [Keep reading]

When justice comes ‘too little, too late,’ financial criminals can’t lose

June 12, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

“I believe that a good lawyer has to acknowledge what the law in the system can do, but also what the law in the system cannot do. And that is brought into relief by this case. The law is primarily reactive. It is often playing catchup, and in the case [Keep reading]

Crypto criminals now targeting artists, because of course they are

June 3, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

Organized digital criminals have found another vulnerable group to attack: artists. Using the confusion and buzz around crypto and NFTs, they are approaching artists with tempting partnership offers — we’ll make and sell NFTs of your work, and you’ll earn tidy commissions. But after months of promising messages, and alleged [Keep reading]

New scam alert: Families searching for lost pets targeted

May 20, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

“Lost pet. Help find Fido!” I’m sure you’ve seen signs like that taped on telephone polls, plastered all over bulletin boards at coffee shops, maybe even popped into your mailbox. There’s just something about lost pet signs that always make my heart sink. I immediately picture a family, worried sick, [Keep reading]

Podcast: Follow a sextortion scam unfold as it ends in unimaginable tragedy

April 19, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

Jordan: Please, bro….It’s over. You win, bro. Dani: Okay. Goodbye. Jordan: I am KMS RN….which stands for, I’m killing myself right now….because of you. Dani: Good. Do that fast or I will make you do it. I swear to God. And that message … was the last one that he sent to [Keep reading]

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