Confidence artist

Welcome to a No One Is Coming Deep Dive, where we spend a little more time with the people and stories behind the series.

Jenny Radcliffe, the social engineer and author of People Hacker, joined us for Scams, The Urgency Trap.

Companies hire her to test their security by getting past the humans responsible for it.

It's an unusual profession requiring considerable preparation, a talent for persuasion, and permission to do things that would otherwise get you arrested.

The practical advantage comes from giving yourself room to check a request, even when the person making it has been charming enough to make checking feel unnecessary.

You can enjoy the compliment and still leave that door locked.

For more from Jenny and our other guests on how scams work and how to interpret them, listen to Scams, The Urgency Trap.

No one is coming, but sometimes it's okay to be rude.

You ready? No, I'm not ready.

What are we going to talk about? So do you know how we constantly talk on the podcast about the scam calls you get? Scam emails.

Oh, dude.

It's fucking painful, man.

This is Seattle Now.

Scammers are always looking for new ways to take advantage of people.

Artificial intelligence is making their job easier.

KUOW reporter Katie Campbell learned this firsthand when she discovered scammers have been impersonating her.

The measure was approved by the Albuquerque City Council on September 9.

Mayor Keller said in a news release, Scammers are constantly finding new ways to separate people from their money, and these kiosks have become another tool they can use.

We're taking that tool off the table and putting protections in place for Albuquerque residents, especially those most targeted by these schemes.

Virtual currency kiosks allow users to convert cash into digital currency.

And some man

Scam man, bye gun.

Copy the man, the Benz give my fam.

Six.

[upbeat music] Scam safe with Kylee Dennis.

Protect your money, protect your name.

Spot the tricks, stop the traps.

I want you to, um, clo- change all your passwords and everything that has that-- Whatever, whatever you have, um, engaged with, you know, just, just change, you know, your private settings.

I want you to keep all the evidence.

Everything that you have done, whether that be transfer money, whether that be phone records, um, uh, the, the website itself, all that information, I want you to keep all that, and then I want you to report that to Scam Watch.

Now, I c- I'm, I'm not saying at any time that money is going to be recovered because I, uh, that is not, that I, I can't advocate for that 'cause I, I can't give you that answer.

But I need you to ensure that you keep everything together, and then once you report it, and depending what the scam is, well, then there are other processes, depending what the bank says, depending what, you know, um, Scam Watch says, et cetera, et cetera.

Uh, maybe, uh, after the bottom of the hour news, I'll talk to him about that.

But, uh, one of the listeners texted in and says, "Grift and fraud have no boundaries." Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, especially up in Somalia.

They've now won these last two games just because their quarterback has played better.

Has he stop, has he stopped being a scammer, or is he still scam, Scam May out there?

I mean, let's see.

Let's see how the rest of it goes.