How scammers weave deception into everyday life.

Hacking Humans

Maria Varmazis host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share her story on how AI-generated scams have infiltrated the world of crochet and other crafts, selling fake patterns that often result in impossible or frustrating projects. Dave's story is on the rise of "digital arrest" scams in India, where criminals posing as law enforcement officers coerce victims into making payments to avoid fake charges against their loved ones. Joe's story come's from a listener this week, and follows the latest evolution of the classic invoice scam, where scammers are now embedding unrelated but meaningful text to bypass spam filters. Our catch of the day comes from listener William, who shares a classic Nigerian Banker Scam. In this version, a young bank employee named Zayas Yovani claims to have discovered your overdue funds at the Central Bank of Nigeria. He offers to release the money if you help him flee the country, requiring you to purchase special hard drives and share your banking details.

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Links to the stories:

• This is what happens when ChatGPT tries to create crochet patterns
• 'Digital arrest' scams are big in India and may be spreading

You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here.

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at [e-mail].