What the Hack with Adam Levin

AI is everywhere – in the news, on our devices, assisting us, making life easier for us, and for criminals, too, harnessing AI to swindle people more efficiently. What’s next? We dive into the dark side of AI and ask two experts: Could AI commit the perfect crime? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Karen Johnson, a former catfish scammer turned scam avoidance coach, shares her riveting transformation story. She dives into her experiences of being both a deceiver and a victim, shedding light on the emotional manipulation involved in online scams. The conversation takes a twist as they discuss how AI complicates the scam landscape, including sophisticated tactics like fake parking tickets. Listeners also gain insight into essential tips for protecting against QR code fraud and empowering vulnerable populations, particularly seniors, against online threats.

As a Daily Show correspondent, comedian Roy Wood, Jr. knows a thing or two about fake news and truthiness as well as the truth-and-a-half that is comedy. By skewering the media and the people in the news, he has special insight into how misinformation affects the way we think about the world and what we know.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Max McCoy stumbled on a $47 million swindle that starts just north of the Oklahoma panhandle and bounces to Australia before things get really confusing in a haze of small town corruption, secretive law enforcement and competing theories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erin West is the Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County, California, and the founder of Project Shamrock. Whether she’s prosecuting eye-popping SIM-swap money grabs or putting large-scale pig butchering operations out of business, her stories and experience can help you stay safer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt is on a mission to kill Section 230, the legal shield that lets social media giants profit from chaos. If engagement-driven algorithms are fueling harmful content for the sake of profit, is it time for the U.S. to take bold action to rein in the Internet? (You know the answer, but this is a must listen!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kara Swisher has been covering Silicon Valley since the early days, and she’s made a ton of enemies the old fashioned way (by telling the truth about the new robber barons of our digital lives). In a new memoir called Burn Book, she pulls the curtain back on a world run by powerful babies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Privacy expert Jen Caltrider reveals how those shiny new AI gadgets with their mind-bending tech—not to mention the social media apps capturing every moment—are a privacy nightmare. Is going analog the only safe option? Learn how to protect your data from the prying eyes of Big Tech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No deep fake here. This week, Al Franken does his own impersonations of Bernie Sanders, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Sherrod Brown and Susan Collins in this mock Senate Hearing featuring Siri (played by the actual voice-over talent Susan Bennett) and Al’s fellow SNL alum Laraine Newman playing the part of Alexa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever wonder why facial recognition is so accurate? Well, one reason is the shocking amount of personal data it needs (think: all the world’s snapshots), and that’s why Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark is taking aim at the industry behind that technology. We also review Charity’s top scams to watch for this year, and other topics near and dear to our own scam-hating hearts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices