Join Maria Varmazis, host of N2K daily space show, as she discusses a man scammed out of $25,000 calling Geek Squad. Dave and Joe share listener updates on Facebook scams and toll scam alerts. Learn about social engineering takeovers in open source projects and an ex-athletic director arrested with a gun. Catch of the day: an email scam selling puppies.
Scammers are using sophisticated tactics, such as impersonating tech support services, to deceive individuals and steal large sums of money.
The incident involving deep fake technology at Pikesville High School highlights the destructive impact of false accusations and the necessity for enhanced vigilance in verifying information.
Deep dives
Principal at Pikesville High School falsely accused of making racist and anti-Semitic comments
The principal of Pikesville High School found himself in the midst of controversy when an audio recording circulated accusing him of making racist and anti-Semitic comments. This led to his suspension and threats against him. However, it was later revealed that a gym teacher from the school had created a deep fake using artificial intelligence to impersonate the principal.
Gym teacher charged with creating deep fake to implicate principal
The gym teacher, Dajon Darien, was responsible for the deep fake accusing the principal. He used school resources to create and disseminate the fake audio recording, which prompted a rush to judgment from the school community and authorities. Darien faces charges including disrupting school activities, theft, retaliating against a witness, and stalking.
Community's reaction and the impact of false accusation
The rush to judgment against the principal highlighted the community's response to the allegations. The false accusation not only led to the principal's suspension and threats against him, but also damaged his reputation and caused a rift within the school community. This case sheds light on the practical impacts of deep fakes and the challenges of discerning truth from manipulated content.
Lessons learned and implications of the case
The incident at Pikesville High School reveals the dangers of deep fakes and the need for enhanced scrutiny and verification in cases of alleged misconduct. It underscores the importance of critical thinking, skepticism, and responsible use of technology to prevent and address such manipulative incidents. This case serves as a cautionary tale about the potential consequences of false accusations and the power of technology to deceive.
This week we are joined by Maria Varmazis, host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus. Maria shares an interesting story from Canada on a gentleman who thought he was calling Best Buy's Geek Squad, but instead ended up getting scammed out of $25,000. Dave and Joe share quite a bit of listener follow up, the first one is from Raul who shares how they saw an infamous Facebook scam. The second one is from listener Alec who shares some thoughts on episode 286's catch of the day. Lastly, Paula shares some thoughts on a recent discussion on why people are on the phone when a flight gets cancelled. Joe brings back answers to an old scam featured on an episode back in January on toll scams, as well as sharing about how the OpenSSF and OpenJS Foundations have issued an alert for social engineering takeovers of open source projects. Dave shares updates from the ex-athletic director accused of framing principal with AI and how he was arrested at the airport with a gun. Our catch of the day comes from listener Kenneth who shares an email from a "doctor" who has puppies for sale.
Please take a moment to fill out an audience survey! Let us know how we are doing!