Articles about Scams

New research looking at high pressure extortion scams reveals that Gen Z is being particularly impacted by AI-powered threats. All mobile users are at risk, however, with one in three having been targeted by an extortion scam, often threatening to expose pictures or browsing history, and nearly one in five falling victim.

The research from Malwarebytes shows a distinct target profile for extortion. 69 percent of victims and 64 percent of targets are Gen Z or Millennial (compared 52 percent of victims and 40 percent of targets of other types of scams). 65 percent of victims and 60 percent of targets are male (vs. 48 percent/45 percent)

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A new study of over 1,000 US parents with children at home between the ages of two and 20 finds that 35 percent of families have experienced a phishing scam via text, email or chat, and 25 percent have had a game or social media account hacked.

The report from Bitwarden finds that children as young as three to five are already using the internet, and 42 percent of parents in this age group say their child has unintentionally shared personal information. Nearly 80 percent of kids ages three to 12 have their own tablet, making device access nearly universal by early elementary school.

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Artificial intelligence giant OpenAI has begun a multi-year collaboration with AARP and its Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) to expand resources that help older adults understand and use AI.

A video released through the OpenAI Academy demonstrates how ChatGPT can support users in spotting potential scams, with a focus on recognizing common warning signs. A survey by Avast released three months ago found that nearly 60 percent of older adults have fallen for cyber scams.

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This Sunday, September 7th, the UK will test its emergency alert system, sending a message that will cause 4G and 5G mobile phones and tablets to emit a loud siren sound and vibrate for about 10 seconds.

But Marc Porcar, CEO of QR Code Generator, is warning that fraudsters are likely to exploit the upcoming government test, particularly targeting elderly and vulnerable people who may be confused by the alerts.

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Lookalike domains, crafted to closely resemble authentic domains, enable a wide range of deceptive activities. By sending emails that appear to originate from trusted sources, attackers can effectively conduct a variety of scams from phishing and social engineering attacks to invoice fraud.

A new report from BlueVoyant looks at how cybercriminals encourage their victims to click on lookalike domains, whilst highlighting the critical need for vigilance and proactive measures to counteract these threats.

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We all know how frustrating it can be to get scam phone calls, whether they're pretending to be your bank or trying to claim your computer needs fixing.

Of course it can be fun to keep them talking and string them along for a while, but most of us don't have the time to do that. Now though UK telco Virgin Media O2 has created an AI pensioner specifically designed to waste the scammers' time so we don't have to.

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Google has announced a new partnership with the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) and the DNS Research Federation (DNS RF) to launch Global Signal Exchange (GSE), a new project with the ambition to be a global clearinghouse for online scams and fraud bad actor signals.

This collaboration combines the strengths of each partner: GASA's extensive network of stakeholders, the DNS Research Federation's robust data platform with already over 40 million signals, and Google's experience in combating scams and fraud.

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Cryptocurrency has been increasingly professionalized in recent years, offering millions of transactions to a global base of everyday users. However, this trend of mainstream investment has happened in tandem with recent high-profile prosecutions of former crypto leaders.

The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency still presents opportunities for bad actors to exploit, particularly for laundering money. Approximately $72 billion a year of illicit transactions is being paid for with crypto, a large portion of which is cleaning dirty money, according to a recent Europol report.

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