Author: Martina Dove

Pig butchering scams came onto the scene a few years ago and have been gaining momentum ever since. A unique take on an old classic, pig butchering is a typical investment scam with a romantic or relationship-based twist. The large sums of "invested" money are typically funneled into fake crypto apps where they are promptly lost. Those who have fallen victim to pig butchering scams have taken out home mortgage loans, borrowed from friends and family, and even lost their life savings on the financial advice of those they were led to believe cared about them. The more you know about this type of...

Scammers are increasingly resourceful when coming up with scam techniques. But they often rely on long-standing persuasion techniques for the scam to work. So, you may hear about a new scam that uses a novel narrative, but there is a good chance that the scam relies on proven scam techniques once the narrative is stripped away. These scam techniques often exploit our characteristics and heuristics, or things that make us human and fallible. In this blog post, I will cover some of the most common scam techniques and explain how they work. Evoking visceral influence Visceral influences such as...

We seem to be fascinated by fraudsters, and recent documentaries prove this. The documentary landscape is populated with many fraud-centered stories, such as The Tinder Swindler, Fyre, The Con, Fake Heiress, The Inventor, and many others. Some have even been made into series, such as the story of Elisabeth Holmes in The Dropout, and the story of Anna Delvey in Inventing Anna. We just can’t get enough of it, and who can blame us? These stories are fascinating, entertaining, and engaging. We want to know how these fraudsters achieved their deceptive goals, and how they managed to fool so many...

"Sextortion" scams represent some of cybercriminals' most brazen attempts to extract money from unwitting victims. These extortion techniques rely on fear and shame to get targets to pay up. Similar to individualized ransomware attacks, if the party refuses to pay the demand, public exposure will follow. As these attacks target individuals rather than companies, it is important for all employees to know the signs to avoid falling victim. While the initial risk might belong to the individual, the ultimate penalty might be paid by their company as scammers could request not only money, but...

With so many companies currently reducing their workforce, jobs scams have become a serious and widespread problem for those who are looking for work. Stories from people who came across these scams on LinkedIn talk about scammers asking for their IDs, possibly to commit identity fraud or theft. Although most of these scams come with glaring warning signs, such as a lack of in-person or online interviews, scammers go to great lengths to make it as realistic as possible, complete with fake contracts and background check questionnaires. They may also have LinkedIn profiles with many followers...