Hacker News with Generative AI: Scams

Android 16 will fight scammers by blocking certain features during phone calls (androidauthority.com)
To combat these scammers, Google is working on a new security feature for Android 16 that blocks you from changing certain sensitive settings during phone calls.
Italian entrepreneurs got scammed by AI voice faking defense minister (lastampa.it)
Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams (bbc.co.uk)
The tall, shiny buildings which rise out of the cornfields on the Myanmar side of the Moei river are a sight so jarring you find yourself blinking to be sure you haven't imagined it.
Ask HN: Is Godaddy Running a Scam? (ycombinator.com)
Recently, I was trying to a buy a domain for which we had bid in Godaddy. We bid the suggested price in Godaddy. Our bid was rejected buy the owner.
Robocallers posing as FCC staff blocked after robocalling real FCC staff (arstechnica.com)
Robocallers posing as employees of the Federal Communications Commission made the mistake of trying to scam real employees of the FCC, the FCC announced yesterday.
FCC Proposes Nearly $4.5M Fine for Apparently Illegal Robocall Scheme (docs.fcc.gov)
The 'AI granny' driving scammers up the wall (theguardian.com)
An elderly grandmother who chats about knitting patterns, recipes for scones and the blackness of the night sky to anyone who will listen has become an unlikely tool in combatting scammers.
Fake CBC ads have flooded X with sketchy headlines. We looked for the source (cbc.ca)
Ads featuring fake CBC articles have inundated the social media platform X in recent weeks. The ads are designed to lure Canadians into a sophisticated scam that uses Russian internet infrastructure, CBC News has found.
Ask HN: How to protect yourself from coding challenge scam? (ycombinator.com)
These past months, I've seen several social media posts about people getting scammed during coding challenges or take-home tests.
Trump-crossposting X account advertises fake memecoins that make $1.25M (web3isgoinggreat.com)
FTC Sends $5M in Refunds to Consumers Harmed by Bogus Credit Repair Scheme (ftc.gov)
AI Brad Pitt dupes French woman out of €830k (bbc.co.uk)
A French woman who was conned out of €830,000 (£700,000; $850,000) by scammers posing as actor Brad Pitt has faced a huge wave of mockery, leading French broadcaster TF1 to withdraw a programme about her.
Apple's new AI feature rewords scam messages to make them look more legit (crikey.com.au)
Apple’s new artificial intelligence features are rephrasing scam messages and emails to iPhone and Mac users to make them look more legitimate and then flagging them as a priority, raising concerns that it will lead to more people falling for them.
The latest fake literary agencies (writerbeware.blog)
Fake agencies mentioned in this post:
The Psychology of Phishing: Why Smart People Fall for Scams (techsplicer.com)
Do you know that feeling of dread when you realize you’ve clicked on a suspicious link? I know it perfectly.
Over 3.1M fake "stars" on GitHub projects used to boost rankings (bleepingcomputer.com)
GitHub has a problem with inauthentic "stars" used to artificially inflate the popularity of scam and malware distribution repositories, helping them reach more unsuspecting users.
Over 3.1M fake "stars" on GitHub projects used to boost rankings (bleepingcomputer.com)
GitHub has a problem with inauthentic "stars" used to artificially inflate the popularity of scam and malware distribution repositories, helping them reach more unsuspecting users.
How Mayor Guo Turned Her Town Into a Hub for ‘Pig Butchering’ Scammers (msn.com)
Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam [video] (youtube.com)
Tracking Down the Bulgarian Marketplace Scams (sy1.sh)
This is rather an unusual article that I would be publishing. I usually don’t do threat hunting or any amount of hunting outside work, but this one got personal.
Interpol wants everyone to stop saying 'pig butchering' (theregister.com)
Interpol wants to put an end to the online scam known as "pig butchering" – through linguistic policing, rather than law enforcement.
How to lose a fortune with one bad click (krebsonsecurity.com)
Adam Griffin is still in disbelief over how quickly he was robbed of nearly $500,000 in cryptocurrencies. A scammer called using a real Google phone number to warn his Gmail account was being hacked, sent email security alerts directly from google.com, and ultimately seized control over the account by convincing him to click “yes” to a Google prompt on his mobile device.
Interpol wants everyone to stop saying 'pig butchering' (theregister.com)
Interpol wants to put an end to the online scam known as "pig butchering" – through linguistic policing, rather than law enforcement.
Scammers using AI-generated videos of doctors to peddle harmful health advice (abc.net.au)
Health professionals are being impersonated in deepfake videos promoting dietary supplements for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
The FBI now recommends choosing a secret password to thwart AI voice clones (arstechnica.com)
On Tuesday, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation advised Americans to share a secret word or phrase with their family members to protect against AI-powered voice-cloning scams, as criminals increasingly use voice synthesis to impersonate loved ones in crisis.
Gamer's Nexus – NZXT predatory PC rental scam explained [video] (youtube.com)
Why it's not rude to ignore "hi, how are you?" text messages from strangers (consumer.ftc.gov)
A text message from an unknown number that simply says: hi, how are you? seems harmless. Your first instinct might be to respond to see if it’s someone you know. Or maybe tell them they made a mistake. But it’s best to ignore these type of text messages. Scammers are using this tactic as a conversation starter, so don’t text back.
New hijacking scam targets Elsevier, Springer Nature, and other major publishers (retractionwatch.com)
Until recently, journal hijackers do not appear to have targeted titles from big publishers, in part because their well-known website designs made such clones easy to detect.
Kid Executes $30K Rug Pull with Gen Z Quant Token He Created During Live Stream (insidebitcoins.com)
A young streamer executed a $30K rug pull with a meme coin by the name of Gen Z Quant (QUANT).
Daisy, the 'AI Granny' Outwitting Scammers (forbes.com)
Amid heated debates about the potential pitfills of artificial intelligence, the technology has finally taken a form we can probably all get behind — an “AI granny” created expressly to waste scammers’ time.