When 2G attacks, and a romantic road trip goes wrong
Smashing Security
Graham Cluley
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 23 July 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Graham warns why it is high time we said goodbye to 2G - the outdated mobile network being exploited by cybercriminals with suitcase-sized SMS blasters. From New Zealand to London, scammers are driving around cities like dodgy Uber drivers, spewing phishing texts to thousands at once.
Meanwhile, Carole unpacks a painfully awkward tale of amour fou, as a 76-year-old Belgian man drives 476 miles to meet his dream woman... only to be greeted by her very-much-still-husband at the gate.
Plus: Sky Arts painting competitions get a thumbs up, Mark Zuckerberg never loses at board games, and the scandalous Facebook memoir Meta tried to silence.
All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the "Smashing Security" podcast by cybersecurity veterans Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault.
Warning: This podcast may contain nuts, adult themes, and rude language.
Episode links:
- Teen arrested for 'smishing scam' using technology never before seen in New Zealand - RNZ.
- Op Orca — smishing scam smashed - New Zealand police.
- SMS blasting incidents are rising - Risky Bulletin.
- Bangkok busts SMS Blaster sending 1 million scam texts from a van - Bleeping Computer.
- Police warn of SMS scams as ‘blaster’ is used to send thousands of texts - The Guardian.
- Reports of SMS Messages Sent by Fake Base Stations - Commsrisk.
- Keeping your Android device safe from text message fraud - Google Security blog.
- What is Paris syndrome? How culture shock can kill a trip - The Independent.
- Belgian man crushed after driving nearly 500 miles to meet French model he believed was his 'future wife' - Fox News.
- French is the language of love: myth, reality, and romance - ICLS.
- Romance scam victim travels 700km 'to marry French beauty queen' - BBC News.
- Un homme se présente chez moi pour être mon futur mari… - YouTube.
- Sky Artist of the Year.
- Careless People - The Guardian Bookshop.
- Careless People: We read the book that Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t want you to read - Slate.
- Smashing Security merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, stickers and stuff)
Sponsored by:
- Vanta - Expand the scope of your security program with market-leading compliance automation… while saving time and money. Smashing Security listeners get $1000 off!
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Theme tune: "Vinyl Memories" by Mikael Manvelyan.
Assorted sound effects: AudioBlocks.
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Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | How old is this woman? I thought our hero was like... |
| 0:06.3 | 38? |
| 0:07.0 | And he's 76? |
| 0:08.6 | Dirty old fella. |
| 0:10.1 | A little bit dirty. |
| 0:31.5 | Smashing Security, Episode 427, When 2G attacks, and a romantic road trip goes wrong with Carol Terrio and Graham Cluley. |
| 0:36.3 | Hello, hello, and welcome to Smashing Security episode 427. My name's Grand Cluley. |
| 0:39.7 | And I'm Carol. So what's coming up this week, |
| 0:45.9 | Carol? First, let's thank this week's wonderful sponsor, Vanta. It's their support that helps us give you this show for free. Coming up on today's show, Graham, what do you got? I'm going to be asking if it's |
| 0:51.8 | time to turn off 2G. Ooh, okay. And I'm going to be asking if it's time to turn off 2G. |
| 1:02.7 | Ooh. Okay. And I'm going to ask, how far should you drive for love? All this and much more coming up on this episode of Smashing Security. Now, chums, Chums, Krull, you love a concert, don't you? Oh, well, if I like the band, yeah. Have you ever been to a big concert where there are thousands and thousands of people and you're all crammed in, you know, like... Yeah, I'm not a huge fan. I do go, but I do have a bit of like it's too many people and if there's a rush or, you know... That's what I think too. Yeah. Yeah, I'd much rather something a bit small. |
| 1:30.2 | Don't like all those people around. But there are ways in which cybercriminals can take |
| 1:36.2 | advantage of big groups of people. And I'm going to tell you about one of the ways in which |
| 1:42.3 | they can do that today. And I'm going to start my story one of the ways in which they can do that today. |
| 1:47.0 | And I'm going to start my story in August last year, |
| 1:51.4 | where police in New Zealand reported that they had arrested a 19-year-old kid who was suspected of conducting a cybercrime that they said had never been seen before in the country. |
| 1:58.5 | I mean, like how many times can that happen? |
| 2:00.4 | Something brand new has never happened in the country before, mean, like, how many times can that happen? Something brand new |
| 2:02.0 | has never happened in the country before, but that's what they claimed it happened. |
| 2:05.4 | Okay. And the police called their investigation Operation Orca. |
| 2:10.3 | Mm, like the whale. Exactly. The killer whale, isn't it? I think they don't like to be called |
| 2:14.7 | killer whales, do they? They think that's for other, which I can understand. |
... |
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