The costly consequences of communication scams.

This week Dave shares a story on Business email compromise (BEC) scams, and how they are a major threat, costing $26 billion annually. The story shares how it's crucial for employees to verify suspicious emails through a secondary channel and for companies to foster transparent communication to mitigate such risks. Joe shares two stories with us this week. The first is from a listener named Jay, who received a story from a relative. In this story, someone claiming to be a constable calls to warn about a person who has gift cards with the victim's name on them, then tries to get the caller to call the police to confirm. Joe's second story comes from Allison Gormly at Consumer reporter at WTHR in Indianapolis. Allison share's videos videos on Instagram that all start with “Hey Allison,” this one starts with Hey Allison, a stranger sent me money on Venmo, should I send it back? Our catch of the day comes from listener Cameron, who shares how he is a business owner with a public-facing email address, and how he gets his fair share of scam emails, but this one takes the cake.

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Links to the stories:

• How to Spot a Business Email Compromise Scam
• Scam alert on Venmo, CashApp & Zelle!

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@thecyberwire.com.