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Unseen Money 16—synthetic identity fraud
In the latest episode of Unseen Money, Timur Yunusov helps Paul Amery unravel a strange real-life story involving a spoofed eBay delivery, Paul’s phone number and a photo of an Indian lady in a pink dressing gown.The story is part of a rapidly growing form of crime involving so-called “synthetic” identities. In a synthetic identity fraud, criminals create fake online identities by blending real, stolen data with fabricated information. They then use those identities to conduct money laundering and fraud.In the podcast, we cover:(00’ 25”) How Paul got a DPD delivery notification for an eBay parcel he hadn't ordered (1’ 20”) How DPD provided “proof of delivery” to a woman in a pink dressing gown(2’ 45”) How eBay showed no interest in investigating the transaction(3’ 15”) Why a synthetic identity combines real and fictitious information(4’ 40”) How criminals use synthetic identities to decrease online friction (6’ 40”) Possible use of synthetic IDs in buy now pay later (BNPL) fraud (7’ 10”) Why synthetic identity frauds don’t fit the standard stolen identity playbook(7’ 40”) Why synthetic ID cases deserve much greater scrutiny from anti-fraud teams (11’ 30”) Identity theft (account takeover) and synthetic identities (13’ 00”) Why synthetic identity fraud has boomed post-COVID(21’ 40”) AI and machine learning have turbocharged synthetic identity fraud(23’ 40”) Who’s buying the sets of synthetic IDs?(24’ 30”) How criminals use synthetic identities in frauds(29’ 30”) Dead souls, the Russia-Ukraine war and the exploitation of fake identity sets
Unseen Money 15—Why passkeys won’t take off
Tech firms and governments are pushing passkeys as a replacement for online passwords.They argue that using passkeys will help cut down on fraud, prevent account takeovers and protect against password theft.But Paul Amery and Timur Yunusov are sceptical that passkeys will take off. Listen to the latest episode of Unseen Money from New Money Review to find out why.Here’s what we discuss in the podcast:(0’ 45”) why we need to get rid of passwords(2’ 35”) safer and less safe ways of using passwords(3’ 05”) password management practices(4’ 10”) what is a passkey?(6’ 10”) how passkeys replace reliance on a password with reliance on a trusted device(7’ 10”) what if we are trying to use our phones less?(8’ 00”) using your laptop as an alternative(8’ 20”) hardware devices to store your passkey(10’ 00”) passkeys won’t protect you against state surveillance or a kidnapper(12’ 20”) passkeys are only as secure as the surrounding infrastructure(13’ 00”) what happens if you lose the trusted device?(14’ 20”) unresolved questions regarding lost passkeys(14’ 50”) Paul’s unhappy experience setting up passkeys(15’ 50”) why financial institutions lag in introducing passkeys(16’ 50”) Timur’s survey of security research on passkeys(18’ 10”) where is the weakest link in the passkey enrolment chain?(19’ 30”) why Timur is sceptical of tech firms’ invitations to enrol passkeys(21’ 00”) who’s pushing passkeys and why?(22’ 30”) why some friction in online transactions is a good thing(23’ 30”) why Timur would not use a web browser passkey to access a bank account(27’ 30”) why large-scale passkey adoption is still far away(28’ 30”) passkey technology could be imposed
Unseen Money 14—the AI malware threat
Last week, Google’s threat intelligence group warned that artificial intelligence (AI) is making malware attacks more dangerous. [Malware is malicious software—programmes designed to disrupt, damage or gain unauthorised access to computer systems—usually delivered via phishing emails, compromised websites or infected downloads]“Adversaries are no longer leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) just for productivity gains, they are deploying novel AI-enabled malware in active operations,” Google said in a 5000-word blog.Are malware programmes using Large Language Models (LLMs) to dynamically generate malicious scripts, obfuscate their own code to evade detection, and leverage AI models to create malicious functions on demand, as Google warns? Or it this yet another case of tech firms selling solutions to a problem they have created themselves?Listen to the latest episode of Unseen Money from New Money Review, featuring co-hosts Timur Yunusov and Paul Amery, to hear more about the effect of AI malware.In the podcast, we cover:Google’s warning about the rise of AI malware – reality or hype? (2’ 35”)Why LLMs were originally protected from harmful behaviour (4’ 10”)How criminals learned to develop LLMs without guardrails (4’ 55”)Model context protocols (MCPs) and AI agents as offensive tools (5’ 30”)Malicious payloads and web application firewalls (7’ 35”)Tricking LLMs by exploiting the wide range of input variables (8’ 30”)The state of the art for fraudsters when using LLMs (10’ 10”)Timur used AI to learn how to drain funds from a stolen phone (11’ 05”)How worried is Timur about the rise of AI malware? (14’ 20”)AI has dramatically reduced the cost and increased the speed of producing malware (15’)AI, teenage suicides and protecting users (16’ 50”)AI for good: using AI to combat AI malware (19’)How a Russian bank used AI chatbots to divert fraudsters (19’ 40”)Data poisoning—manipulating the training data for AI models (22’ 10”)Techniques for tricking LLMs (23’)Only state actors can manipulate AI models at scale (25’ 40”)The use of SMS blasters by fraudsters is exploding! (27’)
The rise of techno-fascism
Some people have labelled the recent alliance between Silicon Valley and right-wing populist leaders “techno-fascism”. Is that too strong a term?No, says Jacob Silverman in the latest New Money Review podcast. “What do you call it when the highest levels of the corporate world merge with the executive of the government?” Silverman asks in the podcast. “I think that’s corporatism or fascism.”Silverman is the author of a new book, “Gilded Rage”, in which he chronicles the radicalisation of Silicon Valley. Focusing on a few central characters—Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, David Sacks and Donald Trump—he poses a question that should concern us all. What happens if the world's richest and most powerful men decide to dismantle democracy?“I think it’s very worrisome,” says Silverman. “We keep on breaching markers—things that haven’t happened before.”Listen to the podcast to hear a discussion of:The post-9/11 convergence of technology and the security stateHow tech firms colluded with Trump to merge corporate and political powerWhy the technology of freedom may be incompatible with democracyTech titans’ desire for social and physical escapeJD Vance, the tech industry’s man in the White HouseThe religiosity of Peter Thiel and JD VanceRising nationalism and the booming defence tech industryHow cryptocurrency catalysed the Republicans’ resurgence in the USCryptocurrency as an accessory to political corruptionHow the AI boom was fed by the crypto bubbleWhy Jacob sued Twitter—and what happened nextDonald Trump, Jeffrey Yass and the US government’s about-face on TikTokSocial media as the informational battleground of global geopolitics
Unseen Money 13—Washing the proceeds in cyberspace
Long gone are the days when the Escobar family had to spend $2,500 a month on rubber bands to hold the cash they earned trading cocaine.Now, the invention of cryptocurrency has made money launderers’ life a whole lot easier—or has it?Investigative journalist Geoff White joins Paul Amery and Timur Yunusov in the latest episode of Unseen Money to discuss:Why a New York crypto money laundering case is attracting such close attentionHow technology has changed the business of crimeCryptocurrency mixers and decentralised financeNorth Korea and the Axie Infinity hackThe ugly mix of organised crime, state sponsorship and espionageSanctions regimes, cryptocurrency stablecoins and dollar hegemonyHackers, social media and money launderingWho will run the world’s digital money?
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