Maria Varmazis, host of N2K's daily space show T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share the story of how ESET Research revealed that Telekopye, a scam toolkit used by cybercriminals, has expanded its operations from online marketplaces to accommodation booking platforms like Booking.com and Airbnb. Joe’s story is on the elaborate "blessing scam" targeting older Chinese women, where scammers pose as spiritual healers to swindle victims out of their valuables by convincing them their loved ones are in danger—a criminal act spanning across the UK, US, Australia, and Canada, leaving families desperate to catch the perpetrators. Dave follows the story of a new rule passed by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to make subscription cancellations easier with a simple "click to cancel" process. Our catch of the day comes from Reddit where a user was contacted via text message claiming that they were mixed up in a romance scam.
Links to the stories:
Telekopye scammer network targets Booking.com and Airbnb
'Your son will die': How blessing scammers prowl streets
FTC “click to cancel” rule seeks to end free trial traps, sneaky auto-enrollments
You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here.
Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.
Spiritual healers or master con artists? | Hacking Humans podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
