How AI, crypto and social media are making online scams more sophisticated

Here & Now Anytime

NPR

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

The Economist podcast "Scam Inc." tells the story of the global online scam industry, which is growing larger and more sophisticated. Host Sue-Lin Wong tells us about speaking with victims and perpetrators of online scams. Then, the vast global industry designed to perfect cyber scams takes in some $500 billion a year. Alona Katz, chief of the Brooklyn District Attorney's Virtual Currency Unit, joins us. And, as the federal government continues to slash jobs, job scammers are reading the headlines. The Washington Post's "Color of Money" columnist Michelle Singletary talks about some of the most common scams, how to avoid them, and what to do if you realize you've been scammed.

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at Mathworks.com.
0:17.4	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:29.7	It's really important to assume that any interaction you have online is a scam until proven otherwise.
0:39.9	Hey, you can never be too sure. As we say in the news biz, if your mother says she loves you, check it out.
0:55.3	It's Friday, April 4th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WVUR.
0:56.2	I'm Chris Bentley.
1:06.6	Today's show is all about scams, how they work, how to spot them, and why we're all vulnerable.
1:12.7	We'll hear from someone who prosecutes scammers about how criminals exploit their victim's emotions.
1:21.8	A lot of relationships are initiated through dating apps where people may be more open to communication and connection from the get-go.
1:31.8	And as the Trump administration makes huge cuts to the federal government, more scammers are targeting job seekers, going after their personal information and their cash.
1:33.7	It's an epidemic.
1:39.8	And because the scammers read the headlines like everybody else, they know that people are looking for jobs.
1:43.5	What you can do to stay safe coming up in about 20 minutes.
1:53.3	But first, a podcast series from The Economist recently caught our ear. It's called Scam Inc. And it tells the story of a global industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars,
1:59.3	one which is growing larger and more sophisticated all
2:02.1	the time. We hear from people who have fallen for online scams, and, and this is surprising,
2:08.7	we also hear from the other side, how some of the people doing the fraud are victims themselves,
2:14.5	trafficked and forced to exploit people on the internet to meet harsh quotas
2:19.1	set by their captors. As Scott Tong tells it, a typical online scam often starts with a seemingly
2:25.7	harmless relationship. Let's introduce Karina. She's in her 40s, chemistry PhD. She works in
2:32.3	biotic in California, very smart. And she meets Evan online, this Dutch guy.
	...

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