FoFT: Virtual Kidnapping
03/04/23 07:12
File under #FoFT (Future of Fraud Today) - Scammers are still out there committing Virtual Kidnapping (& extortion) by duping victims into thinking their loved ones have been kidnapped and threatening to kill them if they don't pay the ransom. This type of crime is not new (1880 hits on FBI.gov).
However, as criminals create more plausible "Deep Fake" scams and automate they can scale up and become more effective. This in turn motives more criminals to adopt the TTP's for profit. Here is a pretty good primer on how this scam works. If you dissect the components it looks like a lot of other scams; unsolicited (in bound communication), exploiting fears & creating urgency as they abuse some trust credential (caller ID). Many of our current practices to avoid such scams should be effective. However, if our humans are not aware and properly trained they could easily become victims.
Let's spend some cycles coming up with ways to make it easy to do the right thing and hard to do the wrong thing (like paying scammers). Until then, protect yourself and the people you care about by making them aware.
However, as criminals create more plausible "Deep Fake" scams and automate they can scale up and become more effective. This in turn motives more criminals to adopt the TTP's for profit. Here is a pretty good primer on how this scam works. If you dissect the components it looks like a lot of other scams; unsolicited (in bound communication), exploiting fears & creating urgency as they abuse some trust credential (caller ID). Many of our current practices to avoid such scams should be effective. However, if our humans are not aware and properly trained they could easily become victims.
Let's spend some cycles coming up with ways to make it easy to do the right thing and hard to do the wrong thing (like paying scammers). Until then, protect yourself and the people you care about by making them aware.