This is a harrowing story of a scam artist that convinced a mother that her daughter had been kidnapped. More stories are here. It’s unclear if these virtual kidnappers use data about their victims, or just call people at random and hope to get lucky. Still, it’s a new criminal use of smartphones and ubiquitous … Read More “Virtual Kidnapping” »
Category: scams
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cellphones, extortion, kidnapping, scams, Security technology
academicpapers, bitcoin, scams, Security technology
Interesting paper: “There’s No Free Lunch, Even Using Bitcoin: Tracking the Popularity and Profits of Virtual Currency Scams,” by Marie Vasek and Tyler Moore. Abstract: We present the first empirical analysis of Bitcoin-based scams: operations established with fraudulent intent. By amalgamating reports gathered by voluntary vigilantes and tracked in online forums, we identify 192 scams … Read More “Tracking Bitcoin Scams” »