How Hacks Happen

AI is undoubtedly the technology of the year for hacks and scams. While scammers are busy using AI to make scams more convincing, scam baiters are fighting back with ingenious grandma-style AIs that keep scammers busy for hours on end. There have also been some spectacular busts of scam centers. What’s next, AI scammers chatting with AI scam baiters? Now, that would be entertaining.
Resources
Meet Daisy, the AI 'granny' chatbot that wastes the time of phone scammers
SpaceX disables thousands of Starlink devices being used by Myanmar scam centers
China sentences 5 to death for building, running criminal gang fraud centers in Myanmar's lawless borderlands
Myanmar has declared a 'zero tolerance' policy for cyberscams, but the fraud goes on
Content creators, banks use AI to waste scammers' time
Kitboga on YouTube: I Built a Bot Army that Scams Scammers

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Ever get your hair cut and wonder, "Is my barber part of an international scammer ring?" In November 2025, the FBI arrested Victor Marion, the owner of Mecca Barber Shop in San Diego, and eighteen of his buddies for scamming elderly victims out of $40 million with the classic tech support and refund scams, and for laundering the funds through the shop. Come along and find out how the scams worked, and learn what's next for Marion and his friends.
Resources:
22 charged in elder scam targeting over 500 seniors: FBI San Diego
Feds: Barbershop owner led California-based laundering cell in $40 million elder fraud scheme
Case Number 25CR4061-TWR-01, reviewed via Pacer

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If Facebook has seemed scammy for the past few years, it's not your imagination. A leaked internal document shows that Facebook, and its parent company Meta, are well aware that many of their ads and posts are scams, but they make too much money off of them to do anything about it. Get all the details on this scathing report from Reuters that has rocked the scambuster world.
Resources
Reuters report: Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Maggie McGaugh on YouTube
Pleasant Green on YouTube

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Do you tap "Accept" without reading subscriber agreements? Those long-winded documents can strip away your legal rights, and even hijack your face, your voice, and your life. Let's peek inside the dystopian world of Subscriber Agreements for streaming services and see what little goodies they hold for us.
Netflix in Your Neighborhood Privacy Policy
Netflix Privacy Policy
Disney+ Subscriber Agreement
Disney agrees to have Florida wrongful death lawsuit decided in court
What Do Consumers Understand About Predispute Arbitration Agreements? An Empirical Investigation
Disney wants to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit because of a Disney Plus agreement

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October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and it's time to clean house! Let's get rid of all those dust bunnies (weak passwords) and vacuum under the sofa cushions (no multi-factor authentication) and even do a check under the bed for that half-eaten Pop Tart (vulnerable emails). Hear about a few instances where poor cybersecurity led to unfortunate consequences, so you can avoid the same fate.
Resources
$61K, gone just like that for Oro Valley couple.
Dream Kitchen Renovation Ruined by a Scam
PassGAN: A Deep Learning Approach for Password Guessing
Historic UK KNP transport firm collapses after ransomware attack
Hacker leaks account data of 12 million Zacks Investment users
Researchers Instantly Crack Simple Passwords With AI
Lost $45k to Wire Fraud Scam on E*TRADE – Even with MFA Enabled.

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