Criminals do their own recon to study how vendors craft their emails and how they can structure them to match. Scammers know employees are busy and that they want to act promptly on requests, but they also understand it takes time to verify the validity of the email. How do we train employees to know what is real and what isn’t? Today’s guest is Josh Bartolomie. After joining Cofense in 2018 as the Director of Research and Development, Josh currently serves as the Vice President of Global Threat Services. He has over 25 years of IT and cybersecurity experience. He designed, built, and managed ..read more

Some scammers love the challenge of deceiving those they target while others are forced to scam. Those that thrive off of destroying others try to heighten your emotions very quickly. Both excited and angry responses can get you into making irrational decisions.  Today’s guest is Doug Shadel. Doug is a former fraud investigator and special assistant to the Attorney General at the Washington State Attorney General’s office. He served as state director for AARP Washington and Strategy Director for AARP’s national anti-fraud efforts. Doug has collaborated on numerous educational videos and a ..read more

Please stop yourself from saying, “This could never happen to me or my family.” We can all have vulnerable blindspots when it comes to those we love being exploited or endangered. Even the best trained educators can be manipulated into making a mistake. Today’s guest is Clayton Cranford. Clayton is the founder of Cyber Safety Cop. He is a retired sergeant from the Orange County Sheriff's Department who served as a school resource officer, juvenile investigator, and behavioral threat assessor. He is one of the nation’s leading law enforcement educators on social media, child safety, teen drug a ..read more

Thieves used to rob banks and steal physical money, but in a digital world, it is much easier to sit behind a keyboard and deceive you into giving it to them. Fortunately, there are specific things you can do to protect your finances before scammers get into your accounts. Today’s guest is John Buzzard. John is a nationally recognized financial industry fraud expert who has delivered significant influence in credit card fraud, risk, and security services for financial institutions throughout the United States.  Show Notes: [0:56] - John shares his background and what he does currently in ..read more

After a data breach, many criminals are beginning to use deep learning AI to categorize the information they have stolen. They’re using a steady amount of micro attacks on individuals and businesses and not just full-scale assaults. Today’s guest is Robert Blumofe. Bobby joined Akamai in 1999 to lead the company’s first performance team. While serving as one of Akamai’s chief architects, he was instrumental in the design and development of their intelligent edge platform which now handles trillions of internet requests daily. Bobby’s technical past lends itself to a passion in machine learning ..read more

AI search tools are being used by criminals to sort through data breaches and data dumps they’ve stolen to target as many individuals as possible. After your phone has been swapped, they’ll have the ability to access all your SMS messages and phone calls. But there are precautions you can take.  Today’s guest is Mark Kreitzman. Mark is a seasoned cybersecurity expert with over 20 years of experience in building cybersecurity companies. Mark brings insights into evolving threats facing mobile security and data privacy. His expertise in our increasingly mobile world makes him a valuable res ..read more

Many assume that scammers just target the more mature in age, but they go after everyone. Younger people who may have been manipulated may not have the same amount of money to lose, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t being targeted.  Today’s guest is Kathy Stokes. Kathy is the Director of Fraud Prevention Programs with AARP. She leads the AARP social mission work to educate older adults on the risks that fraud represents to their financial security. She currently serves on the advisory council to the Board of International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators and on the advisory c ..read more

Moving money has never been easier. We no longer need to go into a bank, fill out a slip, and hand it to a teller to receive our money. We can now transfer money instantly. Scammers are taking advantage of unfamiliar technology to either hack in and take our money or to deceive you into sending it to them yourself. Deciding if the bank is responsible for the loss is becoming more and more of a conversation. Today’s guest is Uri Rivner. Uri has been fighting financial crime for 20 years working closely with the world’s largest banks on developing strategies against online fraud and scams. Prior ..read more

It sounds like an episode straight out of Criminal Minds. The FBI’s Highway Serial Killers initiative hunts for long-haul truckers behind at least 850 murders of mostly female sex trafficking victims along our nation’s highways. Today’s guest is Frank Figliuzzi. Frank was the FBI’s Assistant Director over Counterintelligence. He served 25 years as an FBI Special Agent in assignments across the country. As the head of all espionage investigations, Frank frequently briefed the White House, the DNI, and the Attorney General. For the past seven years, Frank has been a national security analyst for ..read more

Scammers have gone from postal mail and faxes to email and phone calls where you never see the person, but now with AI, you can even have a live video call that seems completely real with deep fake technology. It’s no longer safe to just see a person, but there are other things you can do to know if you’re communicating with the individual they claim to be. Today’s guest is Anna Rowe. Anna is the founder of Catch the Catfish and co-founder of LoveSaid. She is a Subject Matter Expert in Romance Fraud and Victim Support. Show Notes: [0:55] - Anna shares her background as a teacher and describe ..read more