Hacker News with Generative AI: Scams

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.
Artificial Intelligence, Scams, Celebrity, France
69 points by monkeydust 3 days ago | 128 comments
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.
Artificial Intelligence, Security, Apple, Mobile Devices, Scams
93 points by jrflowers 9 days ago | 55 comments
The latest fake literary agencies (writerbeware.blog)
Fake agencies mentioned in this post:
Writing, Scams, Publishing, Literary Agents
106 points by Tomte 12 days ago | 41 comments
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.
Psychology, Security, Phishing, Scams
6 points by splicercy 13 days ago | 3 comments
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.
GitHub, Security, Malware, Scams, Social Engineering
4 points by elsewhen 17 days ago | 0 comments
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.
GitHub, Security, Software Development, Malware, Scams
7 points by gpi 17 days ago | 1 comments
How Mayor Guo Turned Her Town Into a Hub for ‘Pig Butchering’ Scammers (msn.com)
Crime, China, Scams
13 points by mzs 24 days ago | 2 comments
Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam [video] (youtube.com)
Social Media, Influencers, Marketing, Scams, Video
253 points by jadyoyster 27 days ago | 86 comments
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.
Scams, Cybersecurity, Bulgaria, Online Marketplaces
136 points by syl5x 29 days ago | 43 comments
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.
Cybercrime, Scams, Language, Law Enforcement, International Cooperation
51 points by LinuxBender 31 days ago | 70 comments
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.
Cybersecurity, Scams, Cryptocurrencies
361 points by todsacerdoti 31 days ago | 368 comments
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.
Scams, Cybersecurity, Linguistics, Law Enforcement
9 points by defrost 31 days ago | 3 comments
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.
Health, Artificial Intelligence, Scams, Deepfakes
10 points by Brajeshwar 39 days ago | 0 comments
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.
Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Voice Cloning, Scams
67 points by perihelions 42 days ago | 30 comments
Gamer's Nexus – NZXT predatory PC rental scam explained [video] (youtube.com)
Gaming, Technology, Consumer Issues, Scams, Video
11 points by RicoElectrico 48 days ago | 1 comments
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.
Scams, Text Messages, Cybersecurity, Social Engineering
17 points by mooreds 50 days ago | 2 comments
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.
Scams, Publishing, Academic Publishing, Research
12 points by domofutu 51 days ago | 0 comments
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).
Cryptocurrency, Scams, Streaming, Meme Coins
3 points by clwg 57 days ago | 2 comments
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.
Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Scams, Security
20 points by alvis 62 days ago | 5 comments
Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time (virginmediao2.co.uk)
It’s a bad day to be a phone scammer.
Artificial Intelligence, Scams, Technology, Humor
718 points by ortusdux 65 days ago | 262 comments
The truffle industry is a scam (tasteatlas.com)
You may be familiar with the truffle oil scam, but everything else you think you know about truffles is probably a lie too.
Food, Scams, Truffles
65 points by fanf2 72 days ago | 34 comments
Google has no duty to refund gift card scam victims, judge finds (arstechnica.com)
There's nothing unfair about Google collecting fees to profit off Google Play gift card scams while refusing to refund victims who collectively lost millions, federal Judge Beth Freeman ruled Monday.
Google, Law, Consumer Protection, Scams
11 points by speckx 73 days ago | 4 comments
A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones (arstechnica.com)
It turns out you may not have needed those implants after all.
Health, Dentistry, Scams, Consumer Protection
363 points by pjmlp 78 days ago | 337 comments
Ask HN: How to tell legitimate consulting interview opportuities from scams? (ycombinator.com)
I've been getting a ton of interview requests from "expert insight" companies asking to pay me anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for an hour long interview, as I have "expertise" that make me a good fit for it.
Consulting, Job Hunting, Scams, Interviews
12 points by charliebwrites 81 days ago | 13 comments
Banks and regulators warn of rise in 'quishing' QR code scams (ft.com)
Banks and regulators warn of rise in ‘quishing’ QR code scams
Cybersecurity, Scams, Financial Technology, QR Codes
4 points by marban 82 days ago | 1 comments
AI models fall for the same scams that we do (newscientist.com)
Large language models can be used to scam humans, but AI is also susceptible to being scammed – and some models are more gullible than others
Generative AI, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Scams
23 points by Brajeshwar 84 days ago | 8 comments
YouTube is letting people being scammed (twitter.com)
YouTube, Scams, Social Media
28 points by jebenois 87 days ago | 35 comments
Deepfake lovers swindle victims out of $46M in Hong Kong AI scam (arstechnica.com)
On Monday, Hong Kong police announced the arrest of 27 people involved in a romance scam operation that used AI face-swapping techniques to defraud victims of $46 million through fake cryptocurrency investments, reports the South China Morning Post.
AI, Crime, Scams, Cryptocurrency, Hong Kong
3 points by pseudolus 93 days ago | 0 comments
Man who scammed country out of $130M using mobile game facing 89,000 years (uniladtech.com)
One man created a virtual farming app that scammed 132,000 people out of millions of dollars - and then disappeared.
Scams, Mobile Gaming, Crime, Law, Technology
37 points by popcalc 94 days ago | 26 comments
FBI Created a Crypto Token to Bait Pump-and-Dump Scammers (gizmodo.com)
The FBI created its own cryptocurrency company and crypto token in order to bait fraudsters who would make fake trades in order to boost the price before cashing out, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Cryptocurrency, Law Enforcement, Scams, Fraud, Government
4 points by HieronymusBosch 100 days ago | 1 comments