About this episode
This week, hosts of N2K CyberWire ???Maria Varmazis???????????????????????????????? and????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????Dave Bittner???????????????????????? alongside ??????????????????????????Joe Carrigan????????????????????????????? are discussing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. Maria’s story covers a BBC experiment by Thomas Germain showing how easily major AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini repeated a completely fabricated claim he posted online, highlighting what experts call a “renaissance for spam” as SEO-style manipulation resurfaces in the age of AI. Dave’s story examines Elizabeth Chamblee Burch’s book The Pain Brokers, which details how women with pelvic mesh implants were allegedly cold-called and steered into surgeries as part of a $40 million mass-tort recruitment scheme fueled by litigation finance and regulatory gaps. Joe’s story reports on an alleged decade-long ticket fraud ring at the Louvre in Paris, where tour guides and museum employees are accused of reusing tickets and bribery, costing more than €10 million before French authorities made multiple arrests. Our catch of the day comes from Reddit, where a user tested the limits of a land developer.
Resources and links to stories:
?I hacked ChatGPT and Google's AI - and it only took 20 minutes
A Terrifying Scam and the System That Made It Possible
The Pain Brokers: How Con Men, Call Centers, and Rogue Doctors Fuel America's Lawsuit Factory
Louvre tour guides accused of orchestrating $16m ticket fraud ring over a decade
T&T&T Land&Sea
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