A library of snippets
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If you’re the type to consider cryptocurrency a scam in and of itself, then this story will be a Russian nesting doll of scams within scams. A recent investigation has uncovered a crypto heist of $243 million worth of digital currency from one guy.
From: Crypto Scammers Steal $243,709,068.03 from Literally One Guy.
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The proposed Scams Prevention Network (SPN) is designed to introduce a “whole-of-ecosystem” approach to reducing online financial scams by increasing the obligations on banks, telcos and social media platforms to reimburse customers and to take preventative steps of their own.
In 2023, the losses suffered by Australian consumers from scams totalled A$2.74bn.
According to assistant treasurer Stephen Jones, the new mandatory codes will make Australia “the toughest target in the world for scammers”.
“There’ll be new obligations on social media platforms in the codes of practice to ensure that they’re confirming the identity of the people who are advertising on those platforms to ensure that the criminals don’t have an easy means of publishing their fake investment materials,” he said.
From: Fintech Australia backs government’s scam prevention plan.
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Two Harvard students have created an eerie demo of how smart glasses can use facial recognition tech to instantly dox people’s identities, phone numbers, and addresses. The most unsettling part is the demo uses current, widely available technology like the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and public databases.
From: College students used Meta’s smart glasses to dox people in real time – The Verge.
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A cyberattack tied to the Chinese government penetrated the networks of a swath of U.S. broadband providers, potentially accessing information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized network wiretapping requests.
From: Exclusive | U.S. Wiretap Systems Targeted in China-Linked Hack – WSJ.
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The highest value frauds include romance scams, conveyancing fraud (where solicitor’s emails are hacked and property deposits diverted), invoice fraud (where small companies and charities are duped by fake payment demands) and investment fraud.
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A soldier who was a long-term Airtel customer lost Rs 2,87,630 from his State Bank of India (SBI) savings bank account due to a mobile ‘SIM swap fraud’. The fraud happened when Airtel issued a duplicate mobile SIM card to an unknown person without properly verifying the documents given and that person withdrew money from the soldier’s bank account using that duplicate mobile SIM. The Indian Army soldier who was posted in Jammu and Kashmir when this fraud happened, at once filed a complaint with Airtel as soon as he got to know about the fraud. However, Airtel refused to refund the fraudulently withdrawn money, so the soldier filed a consumer complaint before the Almora District Forum, Uttarakhand.
The soldier later discovered that money had been fraudulently withdrawn from his bank account via apps like Paytm, Airtel Money, Snapdeal, and M Paisa using a duplicate SIM with the same Airtel number that he had been using.
After a thorough investigation, the Almora District Forum passed an order mandating Airtel to pay the amount fraudulently withdrawn, compensation, and legal expenses to the soldier. Instead of paying this, Airtel challenged the order in higher courts, and subsequently, the case was tried before the State Consumer Commission and then before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC). NCDRC upheld the district forum’s order and ordered Airtel to pay about Rs 4.83 lakh compensation to the soldier.
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The tool generates a podcast called Deep Dive, which features a male and a female voice discussing whatever you uploaded. The voices are breathtakingly realistic—the episodes are laced with little human-sounding phrases like “Man” and “Wow” and “Oh right” and “Hold on, let me get this right.” The “hosts” even interrupt each other.
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Stablecoin wars
Stablecoins constitute a broad category in the crypto space, describing any asset intended to maintain a specific price and backed by reserves such as fiat currencies, commodities, or even other cryptocurrencies. While the sector has existed for a decade, dollar-backed stablecoins such as USDC and Tether have exploded in popularity over the past few years, with their backing companies earning hefty profits through the yields on the underlying assets, which typically include U.S. Treasuries and other dollar equivalents.
From: BBVA plans Visa-backed stablecoin launch in 2025 | Fortune Crypto.
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BBVA has not yet decided whether the stablecoin will be backed by deposits, money market funds, or fiat currencies
From: BBVA plans Visa-backed stablecoin launch in 2025 | Fortune Crypto.
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That’s an interesting comment, because each of these options represents an entirely different view of money.
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BBVA is the latest financial giant entering the crowded field of stablecoins as the Spanish bank gets set to launch its own digital asset next year with the aid of Visa. In an interview with Fortune, BBVA head of digital assets and blockchain Francisco Maroto said the bank is currently in the sandbox phase of a new Visa program that helps firms launch their own tokenized assets, and wants to reach the prototype phase and live activity by 2025.
BBVA has not yet decided whether the stablecoin will be backed by deposits, money market funds, or fiat currencies such as the euro or the U.S. dollar, said Maroto, who added that the company plans for it to be used for the settlement layer on exchanges.
From: BBVA plans Visa-backed stablecoin launch in 2025 | Fortune Crypto.
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