Fraudology Podcast with Karisse Hendrick

Inside Meta’s Security Nightmare: Growth Over Safety?

7 snips

Oct 7, 2025

This riveting discussion unpacks shocking security failures at T-Mobile and Meta. T-Mobile had known about SIM swap vulnerabilities since 2005 but failed to act, resulting in massive cryptocurrency thefts. Meanwhile, a whistleblower reveals that up to 500,000 WhatsApp accounts were hacked daily, with engineers having unrestricted access to user data, all while management ignored the risks. The episode highlights the dire consequences of prioritizing growth over security, urging a reevaluation of corporate practices in the tech industry.

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INSIGHT

Visa's VAMP Creates Confusion

Visa's VAMP rollout shifts risk from merchants to acquirers and combines fraud metrics, creating confusion.
Karisse highlights merchants and acquirers are frustrated by opaque communication and inconsistent access to TC40 data.

ADVICE

Design Conferences For Merchants First

Do prioritize merchant-first conferences to get candid conversations and reduce vendor noise.
Karisse advises limiting vendor attendance and keeping merchant-to-vendor ratios high to improve quality dialogue.

ADVICE

Add Cardholder-Name Match At Pre-Auth

Use cardholder-name-to-card-number matching during pre-auth to spot lost or stolen cards.
Combine this check with many other signals; treat it as one useful tool among hundreds.

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In this episode of Fraudology In this eye-opening episode of the Fraudology Podcast, host Karisse Hendrick uncovers two shocking case studies that expose major security failures at T-Mobile and Meta, and what they mean for the future of digital fraud prevention.

Karisse begins by breaking down the rocky rollout of Visa’s new risk-monitoring system, VAMP, explaining why it’s causing confusion and frustration for eCommerce merchants and acquirers. She also shares exciting news about co-founding the Merchant Fraud Alliance, a first-of-its-kind conference designed to bring together top online merchants for meaningful collaboration—without the vendor noise.

The episode’s main focus dives into two alarming corporate case studies:

T-Mobile’s 20-Year SIM Swap Problem: Karisse examines legal documents proving that T-Mobile has known about SIM swap vulnerabilities since 2005 but failed to take action—allowing cybercriminals to steal millions in cryptocurrency through unauthorized SIM swaps.
Meta’s WhatsApp Whistleblower Scandal: A former security chief alleges that up to 500,000 WhatsApp accounts were hacked every day, and over 1,500 engineers had unrestricted access to users’ private data—while Meta leadership ignored the warnings and retaliated against him.

These stories reveal how even the world’s largest tech companies have chosen growth over security, offering critical lessons for anyone responsible for protecting users, data, or digital payments.

Whether you’re a fraud prevention expert, eCommerce leader, or cybersecurity professional, this episode will give you actionable insights into today’s most pressing digital threats—and how to stay ahead of them.

Fraudology is hosted by Karisse Hendrick, a fraud fighter with decades of experience advising hundreds of the biggest ecommerce companies in the world on fraud, chargebacks, and other forms of abuse impacting a company's bottom line.

Connect with her on LinkedIn

She brings her experience, expertise, and extensive network of experts to this podcast weekly, on Tuesdays.