Having recently maybe, possibly been an accessory to a pretty typical online money-sending scam (#878699), obviously I perked up when The Economist runs a full feature on online scams...
They explain how online scamming is worse than drug trade (which is artificial... bc hashtag legislation):
One reason is that everyone becomes a potential target simply by going about their lives. Among the victims we identify are a neuroscience PhD and even relatives of FBI investigators whose job is to shut scams down. Operating manuals give people like Rita step-by-step instructions on how to manipulate their targets by preying on their emotions. It is a mistake to think romance is the only hook. Scammers target all human frailties: fear, loneliness, greed, grief and boredom.
We can all probably fall for them. It didn't occur to me until afterward that something was off; Darth commented that the line between scamming and stupidity is very, very thin—in most cases, they are going to look equivalent.
...and obviously, The Economist has a "crypto" angle:
Cryptocurrency enables crooks to move money quickly and anonymously into the real world. Regardless of its merits, the crypto deregulation under way in America will give them fresh opportunities.
I think that's generally right, and one topic that the Resistance Money people (#270434, #719337) discuss as a unique "bad" thing about bitcoin's existence (to be weighed against other, "good" things). Uncensorable, unstoppable payments that can't be rolled back means... they can't be stopped or rolled back. (Though, they can be traced!) So once a scammer gets a hold of someone's phone or bank account, it means they can quickly get those fiat funds into bitcoin and from there move them around.
When such thefts are big enough or well-enough publicized, enough eyes-on-the-blockchain means those addresses can never really enter civilized society—the minute they hit an exchange, they are frozen; the minute someone receives them in payment some number of online flags will shout from the rooftops and there will be FBI agents knocking on doors.
For smaller amounts, though, like the one I may(?) have been involved in, that's much less likely. Besides, while we can find the hops and transactions—I think I've traced it, via a few consolidations, to a Bybit (a shitcoin, NFT, crypto exchange) address; I'm not sure, no good at chain analysis—they might just get away.
Plus, this is worrying for all of us. (Safewords/distress passwords with family members?)
By combining voice-changing and face-changing AI with translation services and torrents of stolen data sold on underground markets, scammers will be able to target more victims in more places. Criminals will also be able to use analytics to search through large data sets for wealthy, lonely or troubled people who make promising targets.
Anyway, very nice feature. Looking forward to dive into some other articles.
non-paywalled here: https://archive.md/DK9rO