A fiend plots in his lair
It’s a tale as old as 300 BC. Man takes out loan against his busted ship and expensive cargo; man intentionally sinks his own ship; man escapes with cargo via rowboat and keeps insurance money for himself. In Ancient Greece, this was known as bottomry scuttling; today, we call it plain old insurance fraud.Thanks to the invention of the Internet, crooks now have infinite ways to separate you from your money. We checked in with some hackers and scammers we know to ask what sneaky new ploys they’ve been dreaming up to impoverish and humiliate you.We spoke to ‘Bravo’, a London accountant in his twenties who likes to dabble in online fraud—or as they call it, “pocket money projects”—and ‘Moodie’, who claims to hack “for shits and giggles, never for evil”, as well as a (possibly fairly evil) friend of Moodie’s who didn’t even want to give up their alias.
Fake AI Therapists
Anxiety isn’t hard to find in the modern world: at times, therapy can feel more like a necessity than a luxury. Scammers aren’t holding back from cashing in on the self-help market.One anonymous charlatan we spoke to explained how they were getting rich charging people for AI-powered therapy sessions. They start by training a talking chatbot on the work of real psychologists—experts like Esther Perel, Lori Gottlieb, Dan Savage, and Jay Shetty—by “feeding it all their books, podcasts, interviews, you name it.” Then, they “make a fake website on GoDaddy or Namecheap, make a fake profile of a therapist with fake qualifications and testimonials, and boom.”
Because the bot lives online, it can hold as many sessions as it wants at the same time at any hour with clients from any part of the world. Our source hasn’t quite perfected video calls —so for now, they only offer audio calls. “Technically, my therapist holds the knowledge of the best experts in the world and for a fraction of the price,” says our scammer, shamelessly pleading innocence. “Why should only people who can afford therapy get help?”
Selling AI Products That Never Even Existed
Thanks to the wonders of artificial intelligence, anyone can create images and videos of pretty much anything and sell them online to unsuspecting buyers. ‘Bravo’ has been pocketing hundreds per week by selling non-existent products. While he won’t send us links revealing his bogus wares, he points us in the direction of some dubious-looking Star Wars baby cribs and cat-themed furniture. These are the kinds of things customers end up buying that have never actually existed, or that do exist, but look nothing like what’s advertised.The unhappy customers don’t faze brave Bravo, though: “I have a very positive mindset, at the end of the day you’ve got people doing tax fraud and extortion and other kinds of crazy shit. No one’s really going to get me for some small online transaction.”If Bravo ever does start experiencing pangs of guilt, at least he has recourse to a dirt cheap AI therapy-bot to help shrug it off.
The ‘Honeypot’ Free Wifi Scam
Finding free wifi in public when you’re travelling, or low on data, is like finding a stash of ice-cold Vichy Catalan spring water in the middle of the desert. But what may seem like an oasis, is often a treacherous mirage.
Moodie says that hackers will routinely set up fake wifi networks in public places, aping the brand names of legitimate nearby businesses in malls and airports. By rerouting the VPN, the scammer can project their own wifi signal as (for example) a Starbucks signal, and leave it open so that anyone can sign into their network. “Anywhere that tourists go is good, they’re always desperate for wifi, especially when they’re tired and run down and not thinking straight,” says Moodie. “Drunks are even better because they’re even more vulnerable.”Signing into these ‘honeypots’ or ‘evil twin’ wifi networks will take you to a dummy page where you’ll be asked for your email or banking details. Once you’re in and browsing, the hacker is with you every step of the way, accessing your usernames, passwords, browser history, and even files stored on your device. So you may want to think twice before desperately clicking anything just to see those four beautiful curved bars.
QR Code Jacking
An honourable mention must go to QR jacking, a variation of the free wifi scam above. As we increasingly pay for things using QR codes we find in public, fraudsters have started sticking their own (evil) QR codes near restaurant menus, parking metres, and even electric-car charging points. These will direct you to a fake website, which requests your bank details for payment.
The Virtual History Tour Scam
A few years ago, during lockdown, demand for virtual online ‘tours’ of ancient sites and museums skyrocketed, with frustrated adventurers young and old happy to pay for a quick shot of second-hand escapism. Moodie’s anonymous scammer friend was among those who started a site offering the service, after a “semi-serious request from someone who wanted some scenery when he got stoned.”So, Moodie’s friend set up a website offering ‘immersive’ virtual experiences and live-streamed tours of famous and obscure historical sites for a small fee—the catch being that all the content is ripped from pre-recorded footage that is freely available.“To be fair, he’s a massive history nerd, so the places he offers are places you’ve probably never heard of, or would even think to look up,” says Moodie, seemingly unaware that 1.5 million people visit Machu Picchu—one of the key tours on offer—every single year.To be fair, the Inca citadel isn’t the most accessible place on Earth, and other destinations—like the sinking Pacific nation of Tuvalu and the British Museum—would either take days to travel to or explore fully in real life.Moodie’s mate promises an experience that’s “free of tourists and crowds, without the price of an entrance fee or plane ticket.” Conveniently, it also ensures the scammers are keeping you right where they want you—sitting behind a screen, credit card details at the ready. Follow Naeun on X at @naeun_k
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