Why Scammers Win (And How to Actually Protect Yourself)
Michael Torres
I’ve built startups. I’ve shipped products. I’ve also watched people I know lose money to scammers. And here’s the thing that frustrates me most: it’s not because people are dumb.…
Scamming And Scammers
Getting Scammed Online: Why Smart People Fall for It (and How to Stay Safe)
I’ve been building products for years, and one thing I’ve learned is that scammers are just as much product builders as anyone else. They test, iterate, and optimize their approach.…
Ghost-Tapping and the Real Cost of Modern Scams
I got scammed once. Not by some sophisticated cybercriminal ring, but by a guy selling me “proven” dropshipping templates when I was just starting out. It cost me $500 and…
Why Smart People Fall for Scams (And How I Nearly Did Too)
James Holloway
I got scammed once. Not badly, but enough to sting. It was a vendor I thought I’d vetted properly for a freelance project. They delivered partial work, disappeared, and kept…
When Scammers Prey on the Vulnerable: What the Digital Forensics Case Teaches Us
Natalie Foster
A few months ago, the Federal Trade Commission shut down a company called Digital Forensics Corporation based in Ohio. The reason? They were allegedly running a scam targeting people who…
When Government Contracts Go Wrong: Lessons From a Power Deal Scandal
A few years back, I was brought in to audit a supply chain management system for a mid-sized company. Nothing seemed out of place at first—the database was organized, the…
When the Helpers Become the Scammers: A Hard Look at Predatory Recovery Schemes
Tom Harrington
The FTC’s recent shutdown of Digital Forensics Corporation reveals something that keeps me up at night as a security researcher: scammers don’t just exploit vulnerabilities in systems. They exploit vulnerabilities…
When Hype Becomes Fraud: Recognizing the Difference Between Marketing and Deception
Chris Sullivan
A CBS analyst threw around the word “fraud” recently after watching Florida football disappoint everyone who’d been sold a bill of goods about their capabilities. Now, I’m not here to…
Why Disaster Scammers Always Show Up, and How to Spot Them
A hurricane tears through Florida. The damage is real. The need is urgent. And right on schedule, the vultures arrive. I’ve been in IT long enough to know that disasters…
The Phantom Hacker Scam: Why Seniors Are Targets and How to Protect Yourself
Sarah Mitchell
A Wisconsin man just got sentenced to seven years in prison for stealing over a million dollars from elderly people. The scam? Convincing them that hackers had infiltrated their computers…