Inside the $16B scam industry
Fake water bills and phantom UPS deliveries are nearly unavoidable. And now with AI, scams are just getting more sophisticated. How do we avoid becoming a victim?
Listen 51:27
Scammers and fraudsters have found numerous ways to convince us they're real. So, how do you make sure not to fall victim to scams?
’Tis the season and scammers are banking on it. As the holidays approach, criminals are targeting vulnerable people with a wave of schemes, many of them online.
The tactics range from fake notices about unpaid parking tickets and overdue water bills to warnings about hacked computers. As technology evolves, so do the schemes. Artificial intelligence is making these scams more convincing than ever.
Investigators say many of these operations come from overseas, particularly in large “scam farms” across Southeast Asia. The industry has grown into a profitable criminal enterprise, costing Americans more than $16.6 billion.
So how do you avoid becoming a victim? How can you tell what’s real and what isn’t?
Guests:
Bob Sullivan, host of the AARP podcast The Perfect Scam
Eric O’Neill, former FBI counterintelligence operative and author of Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime
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