Security expert Bogdan Botezatu from Bitdefender discusses audio deepfakes scams. Stories include a game changer in social engineering, a grandmother falling victim to a pig butchering scam, and a catch of the day email scam about puppies.
Scammers exploit trust and greed through fake celebrity endorsements in social media scams.
AI technology enables scammers to create convincing fake endorsements, luring victims into sharing personal information.
Education and vigilance are critical in identifying and avoiding cyber scams, emphasizing common sense approach.
Deep dives
Bitdefender Conducts In-Depth Analysis of Social Media Scams
Bitdefender's director of threat research reveals the team's investigation into social media scams, involving fake celebrity endorsements and giveaways like iPhone 15s, exploiting people's trust and greed for financial gain.
Celebrity Impersonations Amplify Scams Impact
Scammers impersonate political figures and celebs like Oprah and Jennifer Aniston to promote lucrative fake giveaways, tapping into people's vulnerability and desire for wealth through dubious schemes.
AI-Generated Audio Deep Fakes Mislead Victims
The use of AI technology enables scammers to create convincing fake endorsement videos, attracting victims with promises of wealth and enticing them to share personal and financial information for illicit purposes.
Monitoring Social Media Platforms to Combat Scams
Despite efforts to report scams to social media platforms, the director highlights the challenges faced while dealing with large-scale scam propagation and emphasizes the need for improved scam detection mechanisms.
Educating Individuals on Recognizing Scams
Bitdefender advocates for education as a critical tool to empower people in identifying and avoiding cyber scams, urging a common sense approach and increased vigilance against offers that seem too good to be true.
Bank Countermeasures Against Remote Desktop Schemes
Banks are implementing measures to detect and prevent fraudulent activities linked to remote desktop applications, safeguarding clients from potential financial losses due to remote access exploitation in banking transactions.
Bogdan Botezatu from Bitdefender is discussing research on "Audio deepfakes: Celebrity-endorsed giveaway scams and fraudulent investment opportunities flood social media platforms." Dave and Joe shares some follow up from listener Lara, who writes in to discuss a few topics regarding a previous episode. Joe's story is sharing a game changer in the social engineering world. Dave shares the story of a listener's grandmother who had fallen victim to a pig butchering scam. Our catch of the day comes from listener Kenneth who shares an email he received from a "Cardiologist" on some puppies.
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