The Invisible Threat - Mastering Cyber Safety | Art Bowker

This week we are learning about cyber crime and cyber survival

>> Tiffanie: Hello and welcome to true crime connections advocacy, podcast. This is where I talk to real people about real shit. I am Tiffanie, your host, and if you are coming back, thank you so much. I am so grateful that you are here. And if this is your first time, I want to welcome you to our rewired and inspired community. This week we are learning about cyber crime. We are learning about cyber survival. And this, is something that I think really, anyone can be a victim to anybody. Doesn't matter. With us this week is art bowker. He's a author and also has 40 years experience in law enforcement and corrections. So, thank you so much, art.

>> Art Bowker: Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate this.


Nobody can be free from cyber attacks, says author Todd Shipley

>> Tiffanie: Yes. This is so important because nobody, nobody can be free from cyber attacks.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah. the Internet has exposed us all, to the good as well as the bad. It's basically, a highway that, criminals can access us no matter where we're at, even no matter what precautions we take. somewhere along the line, we're going to be a victim. and, my co author, Todd Shipley, and I, have really, come up with the idea that it's really about surviving. You're going to be a victim. And, we talk about in our book, methods to protect yourself, the same things that it, people tell you, keep your passion, update, keep, change your passwords regularly, update your systems and all that stuff. But we go into more, we, talk about, providing checklists of things to do to make sure you're safe. But it's, you know, no matter how much you lock down your computer, it's. Your data is kept by somebody else. And as we've seen in the recent news reports, it's susceptible to being stolen by the, by others. Both Todd and I, were victims of, a breach a number of years ago when we worked, when I worked for the federal government, the, OPM breach. And that was a massive breach. I know my Social Security number, date of birth, plus, it was on a background form, my family's dates of birth, all their information. So no matter how much you safeguard your system, somebody else has got your data and they may drop the ball. And we wanted to come up with some, methods to protect yourself and to overcome that, minimize the risk. And as we were writing it, we realized, you know, it's. We were always concerned about, protecting kids online. That's a, that's a big thing with the predators and not whatnot. But we came to realize that the elderly are particularly susceptible. And, unfortunately, the numbers of romance schemes and pig butchering that's going on, which is a, it's a fancy way of what they basically do is fatten, up the target with all kinds of praise and attention and then they get their trust, get them to invest in some cryptocurrency scheme to make money so they can be together. And all of it is, is it leads up to a, ah, financial killing, a butchering. They take all their assets and leave them with nothing. And we wanted to raise the awareness of how to prevent that and how loved ones can know of signs that maybe their family, is being victimized and to stop it before it gets too far.

>> Tiffanie: I know those romance scams. Oh my gosh. Some people lose everything. It's heartbreaking and it's like, you just want love, but you're totally looking in the wrong place.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah. And the schemes are getting even more complicated. There was a report out in Latin America where these criminal organizations are using, artificial intelligence to target people, to make their pitches believable, to, in one case they were taking voices of loved ones off of social postings, feeding that into AI to imitate those voices, to call them up in what's called grandparent schemes. You know, I'm your grandson and I've been, you know, arrested or something. I need you to send me money. And they're very believable. And it's just, you know, you kind of think, who could fall for these schemes? And they're very sophisticated and they're going after people that, are susceptible to that. They're lonely, they don't have a lot of contacts and they develop that relationship and just take advance advantage of them. It's a real evil in my view, that, and they're going after the elderly, particularly because of their vulnerability. They're diminished as they get older. They're not able to detect these schemes as well. And they have financial assets, they have 401 ks. And so they're a ready target. And not just the elderly, they're going after minors in these sex extortion schemes. And those are ending up with, you know, some cases the, the miners are killing themselves because of, of what's happened in the. And their parents are asking questions why? And they start looking at digital evidence and the police get involved and they find out they were, they were being extorted by somebody. And frequently, an overseas organization is doing it.

>> Tiffanie: So absolutely scary. I actually know of one girl, she was out of town and she got a call stating that her son was in a car accident and that they needed money to. I don't even remember what it was for, but it caught her off guard because it's not like what would normally happen if you get in a car accident. But they said, I think they were taking him straight to jail and if he didn't have a certain amount of money, they were going to book him. and so she's freaking out because she's not even in town, but come to find out he was perfectly fine.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah, yeah. You know, the thing is, you've got to reach out and actually talk to them at a number that is not being provided by the perpetrator. some folks, are advocating using a password that a loved one will provide to confirm that that's who they are. yeah, it's just, it's unbelievable. And it's, you know, I know there are single offenders out there that are doing it, but the organizations are really the criminal organizations overseas that are doing this and very sophisticated. And they actually have, they will start off with like on a romance scheme, they'll send a, send an anonymous, not an anonymous, but a text message, hey, how are you doing? And the person responds, and I meant to reach so and so, but you seem like a nice person. And they develop, try and develop a relationship. Once that started, then that's handed off to another group that really work the, the fraud in and convince, them. And it's happening to very intelligent people. There was a story out of a, New York Times where a lawyer was doing things that I would not have thought a lawyer would think to do. They were actually believing that their account had been taken over and they were working with the authorities, and they were told to take their money out and provide it to these officials for safekeeping. And the guy was just getting ripped off. And he was actually, at one point they were telling him, you need to take your money and convert it to gold and then drop it off and we'll pick it up. Yeah, it's amazing. But you know, they believe these stories. They, you know, the older generation, you know, they trust the government. Well, the FBI wouldn't, you know, I trust the FBI or I trust this government agency. They don't think to, you know, to question, man, I experienced some of that with my father, that he was getting calls, from, you know, saying that you got a warrant out for yourself. And I go, dad, they do not call you up on the phone to tell you have a warrant. They just come and get you. And, but he believed it in, you know, then they questioned, well, why can't they stop this? I go, these are, these are gangs from overseas that, you know, and you're just one of, you know, thousands of people that they send these messages out to, and, you know, they only have to get a few, and it makes it worth their while, right?

>> Tiffanie: So you think there's, like, call centers over there doing this?

>> Art Bowker: Definitely, definitely. there was a report that and these criminal organizations, what they will do, in some cases, they will advertise for jobs in a locale, to these individuals, in another country, and they will promise them, look, you'll be working this way. And they set up and they entice them into the country. They take their passport and then they force them to work in these schemes to defraud people. So there's a human trafficking element in this as well. And there, was a report, I believe it was the National Cybercrime Partnership alliance. And she noted that some of these organizations are funneling the money back to governments and they're using them to buy weapons because they're being embargoed by the US. They're using the funds, they're siphoning off the funds for, you know, their weaponry. So it's. It's a very scary time. we, we advocate. You know, you don't want to be. Become a digital hermit and put your head in the sand and cut yourself off from all, activity. And even if you did, you know, you go into a doctor's office, you're giving them your date of birth, your Social Security number, and their information can be hacked and stolen. it's just, you know, outrageous, that, you know, we think we're safe in our homes. Nobody's going to attack us from overseas or in another state. And the computer has opened up that avenue.

>> Tiffanie: Well, not only that, but, like, they're able to, like, hack into, like, your mommy cams, and, like, they were able to get into just about anything nowadays.


Internet of things can give hackers access to sensitive information

>> Art Bowker: Yeah, that's one of the things we talk about is the, is the Internet of things, you know? And we basically say, you know, might not be your computer that gets hacked, it might be a company's computer or it might be your coffee pot that's connected to the Internet, because it's an Internet thing that somehow they got in that way. And there's actually a story. A number of years ago, Las Vegas casino, its database of high rollers was hacked. And the way the hackers got into the system was through thermostat that was connected in a fish tank that was, through the Internet. Internet of things. They hacked into that thermostat and were able to get into the database and compromise, the system.

>> Tiffanie: So that's insane.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah. And, you know, we talk. One of the things we talk about is, you know, you bring a device in, change the administrative password, don't use the default password, but, you know, everything's point and click. Oh, I can just plug it in and plug it into my system and it'll work. You know, you got to do some things to make sure it doesn't happen. And it's funny you mentioned about the webcams. There's actually a website in Russia that if you search your ip address, if you've got a cam that's open on the Internet, it will show your video feed on that, that website. The number of people with door cams and webcams to watch their houses, you know, it's. It's just crazy.

>> Tiffanie: That is insane. And it's like, it's great. But at the same time, this could really hurt people because it is making them clever a lot. Back in the day, you could be like, they misspelled seven words. Like, you know what I mean? So you're like, oh, this is easily identifiable as fake. But not anymore.

>> Art Bowker: No. They're, they're becoming very sophisticated through the use of AI. And, you know, these breaches, there's a report out that people were getting these emails, threatening to expose them for what they were doing on their computer, you know, just kind of a vague threat, and they go, we know where you live. And they were showing Google pictures of their house, and people were like, well, gee, maybe they did see me do something inappropriate. And, you know, they believe it and they pay it. But these breaches that are happening where people's, Social Security numbers and addresses, those are ripe information that these hackers can use to hone their social engineering skills to trick somebody. Well, they've got my address, obviously. They must, they must have infected my computer. So the breaches are a big thing that, you know, it's not just your Social Security number that's, that's getting out, but other information that can be used to target you for very sophisticated social engineering scheme.

>> Tiffanie: Are they putting laws in place? Like, obviously, I know it's hard because a lot of it is overseas and that's a whole different district, but they have to see the need to stricten these laws that way. We're holding these people accountable, and they can't keep doing it.

>> Art Bowker: I do know the FBI is, going after the sex extortion cases. when they come to light, the Internet crimes center receives reports on, complaints, and they feed them to the FBI and they go to the law enforcement. But the FBI does have a presence. They will work the cases, particularly the ones where a juvenile has killed themselves, and they will return federal indictments if they can identify who did it. And they will seek extradition and bring them back to the United States to prosecute them. But, you know, those are the tragic cases. The ones that nobody killed themselves. They paid off the ransom, those people, you know, if it doesn't get reported, there's, you know, nothing's going to happen. That's one of the things that we stress in our book, that if you're a victim, you know, you need to do these things to minimize what happened to you, to stop it, to stop the harm, but you also need to report it. And we provided information on how to document the victimization, taking screenshots and who to report that to, who to turn it over to. We provided links and addresses not only for the US, but also for other countries. because this is a global problem.

>> Tiffanie: Oh, for sure. I mean, in these romance scams, they break my heart. Like, I've watched Doctor Phil once and they took this lady for like $3 million. Like, literally, she had to sell, like the family ranch and everything for it. And they were like, we don't know if we can get anything back for you. And that's just hard pill to swallow.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah, I.


The elderly are left to deal with the aftermath of tech fraud schemes

Have you seen the movie, the beekeeper?

>> Tiffanie: No.

>> Art Bowker: Okay. The beekeeper is basically, he's, he's like a Jason Bourne super, troubleshooter. And he befriends an elderly lady who in one scene, she's on her computer and she gets a pop up message that her computer's infected. Well, it turns out that it is a tech fraud scheme. She clicks on the link, she talks to the tech person, gives that person access, and they end up getting access to a charity that she was running and clean out her account. She's distraught and she kills herself. He finds out about it and goes after the, criminal organization that was doing this, the tech fraud schemes. But he says something that is really hit me. There's a quote, and I may miss, miss, Say it. But basically, you know, when a kid gets victimized, they have their parents, they, are there to help them. But the elderly don't have anybody to go to, and they are left to deal with the aftermath themselves. They're really left. And he says to deal with the swarm of hornets because it's a beekeeper theme. And that, kind of, you know, the. The elderly, they may be isolated, and they don't know who to turn to. They feel the isolation. They feel embarrassed. You know, they've lived all their lives handling their own affairs, and here they get duped. And, you know, that adds to the. To the shame and the victimization. And in the book, we include. There's some stories, federal, court cases where victims gave statements, and the statements are, you know, it's not just the money. I don't feel safe anymore. I don't know who I can trust. And they've had to change their lifestyle. Well, imagine you saved your retirement and it's gone because you've befriended somebody that you thought cared for you. And, it's. Yeah, it's a different type of evil. and, it's unfortunate. And that's why we wrote the book. We wanted to get the news out, get the key factors that people can look to for their. If they've got an elderly person there, what they can do to minimize that. They become a victim. Communicating with them, noticing changes in their behavior. If they're being secretive about their finances, maybe making an inquiry that they want to invest in cryptocurrency. You know, things like that are kind of like red flags. Why does grandpa, at 80, want to start investing in cryptocurrency? Or, hey, I'd like to travel overseas. Well, why. Why do you've met somebody overseas? You know, it's, We have those red flags for the. For the elderly as also. As well as kids. You know, kids are subject to being bullied in school. And, the thing with the Internet, the bullying doesn't just stop. Sometimes what happens in school, it goes online, so they can't get away from it. Things to look for in that as well as changes in behavior. Maybe they're spending less time with the family, becoming more isolated, concealing their cell phone so nobody can see what they're doing. So things to look for, red flags to investigate further.


Virtual private network prevents communication from being intercepted, so it's encrypted

>> Tiffanie: I have a question. VPN, does that protect your information?

>> Art Bowker: Yes, it protects the communication. It's encrypted. You log into a VPN, and that prevents it from being intercepted. Now, the thing is, the VPN, you've got to make sure you've got a good VPN because it's a. They would have access to it. But outsiders, no, they will not have be able to, intercept your communication in a VPN. And we talk about virtual private networks, and when to use those.

>> Tiffanie: Yes. Because sometimes at work, it's like an open, and I would use my VPN, and I always thought that meant I was protected if anyone else was, like, using it there. And then my son was like, no, just means that they can't tell where you're using it from.

>> Art Bowker: Well, virtual private network, the way it works is you log into, another computer and you're accessing the information from that computer, system. And one of the things that, well, there's tor, if you're familiar with the tor. Total onion router.

>> Tiffanie: No.

>> Art Bowker: Okay. That's basically, you log in and your signal was bounced. Your communication is bounced between different nodes so they can't trace back to you. But, a VPN sort of does the same thing, but your communication is encrypted in a virtual private network. And again, the network you're using knows who you are and the information, you know that your, your identity, because it has to have that to be able to communicate to whoever party is. But that's so that you, like, you log into a private network or virtual private network to do, like, your remote from your exposure in a hotel. And you need to log into your work computer. You would use a virtual private network to do that. So the communication secure.

>> Tiffanie: Gotcha. okay, I thought I was right. So I know, like, the main ones, don't use the same password for everything. Make sure you don't keep them on you. Things like that. what are some other things that people need to make sure that they're doing with their passwords?

>> Art Bowker: Well, you know, we, we talk about a different, different methods of doing a password. One is you could have a password manager to manage all your different passwords. Change your password, don't have the same password for all your social media accounts and your bank accounts. You can vary them, maybe use phrases instead of, you know, like, numbers and letters and change, like, for instance, the strong will survive. You would change certain letters to numbers in that phrase, so it's easy for you to remember. The other thing is, don't pick passwords that somebody could maybe guess for. instance, we give the example, like, if you're a, you're a big football fan and you've got a favorite team and it's posted all over your social media that you're, say, while I'm from Cleveland, you're Cleveland Browns fan and you got everything is Cleveland Browns. Well, there's a good chance that person might use something associated with Cleveland Browns for their password, and they might not be able to guess it initially, but with enough information, they may be able to do what's called a brute force or a, dictionary attack where they gather all that and just keep running passwords based on that. You like the browns until it hits, so you don't want to use something that can be easily guessed. and the longer the better. And you should change them regularly. One thing we talk about is change them after breach has occurred, and we talk about, you need to be aware what's going on in the community, in the world. You know, myself and Todd, we knew about the breach of OPM's records because it was on the media. We didn't get notice. At least I didn't get noticed for probably a couple months officially from OPM that my records were compromised. But I knew once it was in, once the media reported it, that, yeah, there's a breach. So don't wait. Don't depend on, the person who had your data to tell you right off the bat, be aware of what's going on in the media. We give some links, like Krebs on security as a website, and we have others noted on our website, the cybersafetyguys blog, that you can go to and keep up to date.

>> Tiffanie: I use lifelock, and a lot of times it'll be like, your data was found on this breach. I've been in the quite a few breaches. I'm like, stay off this shopping site. Yeah, that's where they get me.

>> Art Bowker: Well, that's that, you know, that's the point we're making in this day and age. You're going to be a victim. The question is, how big a victim is it going to be? Your address was found in a breach, or is it your Social Security number and date of birth found in the breach? And in fact, our, our publisher, the guy that's working with us, with our publisher, he texted me over the weekend. Like, his. His data was found online. His Social Security number, date of birth and whatnot. And he goes, what do I do? What do I do? And I go, well, you know, you need to change your passwords, put on a credit freeze, you know, to protect yourself. Yeah, this. You're more than likely you're going to be a victim of some kind of cybere. Hopefully, it's not something more serious like a, ah, cyber stalker, you know, somebody victimizing a loved one, a child, or an elderly person. But the reality is, it's. That's the day and age we live in. It's a digital society, and data's got value.


Credit freezes limit the damage that can be done with stolen records

the point I almost didn't make was one of these things when they get a batch of records that's been stolen, that's got a short shelf life for it to be sold on the black market, because people do credit freezes. Banks cancel credit card numbers. So it's got to be sold and used relatively fast or becomes a stale issue, though you could like the OPM data. yeah, it's probably no longer high, quality because things have changed. That was. That was over ten years ago. So the value has a shelf life. And the sooner you act to do your freezes, contact your banks and your credit card numbers, cancel those. That. That limits the damage that can be done.

>> Tiffanie: Right. I actually had a guy on my Instagram contact me, say that he's just wanting to give a bunch of money away. And he was, like, starting us. So what are your hobbies? What do you do for work? Do you have any kids? What's their names? Knew exactly what he was doing. I sat and messed with him for so long because I'm like, I'm wasting your time. You think I'm giving you the real answers? I told him I was a lesbian. I lived in a different state. It was just going all. I was just like, no, I know exactly what he was trying to do. He was trying to figure out passwords that he could use to try to get into my account.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah, it's funny, the people that, in writing this book, I'm on social media, and I would get, hey, how you doing? I'm interested in your profile. Let's be friends. And they'd send me a picture, and I would take their picture and run it through an image search to see where else that picture had showed up. And, you know, I'd find out that, you know, you got it from a porn site. It's been used here, it's been used there. And they were kind of, like, shocked that I was like, well, they'd say, well, can you send me another picture? And I'd send a variation of the picture they sent me, and they go, where did you get that picture? Where did you get my picture? I go, the same place you got it, the Internet. So, yeah, they could. They're becoming very sophisticated. Early on, I remember I got a text from somebody, and they said they were from Pittsburgh. And I. And I go, I responded, are you a Steelers or a Pittsburgh or a Pirates fan because those are the two big teams. And they thought I was saying they were a steeler or a pirate because they responded, why are you saying such nasty things? It was clear they were from overseas. They didn't understand that those were sports teams. So I would envision those types of players are going to be cut out by AI, because they will know, they will be able to target you and come up with the right answers. Although AI, it still has some issues. Some of the, it's based on, databases that are used and if they're not up to date, they can get stale information. Or, you know, it's not perfect yet, but as, as it gets more and more sophisticated, it's going to get harder and harder. Tell and, you know, we talk about AI and the false media reports that AI generated, and we give some clues on how to detect, you know, if an image is maybe created. AI, the Better Business bureau, we have a link in our book. They have some really good, guidance, you know, detecting AI, generated image, and text. again, those are going to become harder. Harder because the text is going to get, there's going to be less grammatical errors and the syntax is going to be correct, the language is going to be correct. And then there's another, an acronym that we talk about to kind of evaluate, you know, a story that's posted, you know, and how to track it back to the source and to its originality to tell. Is this really a true story, you know, and a framework for thinking those things through to be objective? And we also talk about that with, you know, because the elderly are, susceptible as well as kids. There was this, we have one story where a young lady believed a story that the next day was national rape day. So it was posted on social media and she believed it. And she carried a knife to school and got in trouble for the knife having. Carrying the knife because she thought she was going to be raped. And it's because she believed this bogus Internet story about it was national rape day.

>> Tiffanie: Just, It's insane. And the whole voice thing, that scares the freaking crap out of me because you can literally pretend to be anybody. Yeah, it already happened. Where apparently Biden sent out messages to everybody. Wasn't Biden. It's just crazy.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah. It's going to be a continuing battle between the good guys and the bad guys. Corporations are going to use AI to strengthen their defenses. And, I'm sure there's going to be tools that come out that will defeat it, and it's going to be continuing arms race. And the small businesses, they're kind of in a bind. They don't have the resources. A major company has those resources, although they're oftentimes going up against the criminal organizations have the banking of the nation state, and, you know, you're being, targeted by a nation. What resources do you have to protect yourself against the nation state and protecting your systems? So it's a continuing battle. AI is going to play a big thing. We talked about that in the last chapter as one of the things to be concerned about. The other thing is facial recognition, that the technology is, I go out in public and I see somebody that maybe I find attractive, and I don't know their name. I can take their picture, take that picture, load it into the Internet and find out their social media site. I, get their name, maybe their address. It's a stalker, a dream.

>> Tiffanie: If that's a rapist, no, like, they gotta put a limitations on this shit.

>> Art Bowker: I agree. And I don't know if you saw the story in, that happened in Florida. it was either Disneyland or Disney World. Which one's in Florida?

>> Tiffanie: I don't remember Disney World. Disneyland. I live in Florida. What's wrong with me?

>> Art Bowker: There was an individual taking pictures of kids in the park. And then he took those pictures and used AI to create pornographic child pornography. And he was caught. But, you know, we don't think about, you know, our cell phones got a computer on, or a, camera on it.


This is your third book on cybercrime. You have two books now

You don't think about people taking pictures out in public, but, you know, and, you know, that's, you know, I don't know what I would do if somebody did that to one of my kids. even though it's not, it's a harm, it's a different kind of harm. It's a digital harm, but it's still not right.

>> Tiffanie: No, not by any means. And these predators, they need to be caught because wanting to have sex with children is just not okay. It's not normal. And you just, you need to be locked away forever.

>> Art Bowker: Well, I. I. One of my jobs as a federal, us, probation officer was I supervised sex offenders. And, most of them, they were all computer based. They were downloading child pornography, creating child pornography, or they were travelers hooking up with people online. And we had one case where this person came to light by the FBI because they were dating somebody they had met online and they had relations with this person. And when that person got a call from their, child, I guess it was a teenager, and he saw the picture on the wall, he said to this date, this girl that he had met, this woman that he had met. Well, why don't you bring her home, and you and I and her can hook up together? And she reported in the FBI, and sure enough, he was downloading child porn and trying to hook up with, minors online. So.

>> Tiffanie: Yeah, I've heard of that. People wanting to get in a relationship with single parents, and then that way, they try to groom the parent and the child. Just absolutely sickening. Those are the kind of people that don't need to come out once they're booked.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah. And I'm amazed that, on the dating sites, they'll have, somebody will have a picture of themselves with their kids. I'm like, why? Why are you doing that? You know you shouldn't do that, right?

>> Tiffanie: You're putting them on display. You don't know who's seeing it or what they're doing with that picture.

>> Art Bowker: And with AI now they can take that picture and transform it into something really horrible.

>> Tiffanie: Right. You have two books now, right?

>> Art Bowker: I actually have three. I wrote a book myself called the Cyber Crime Handbook for Community Corrections, which was for probation and parole officers in supervising computer use of offenders. Then Todd and I wrote a book together, our first book, investigating Internet Crimes, which basically as a text for law enforcement on how to gather information online in a manner that it can be used in court. And then we decided we needed to do this book to take our skills in teaching law enforcement technology to the general public and how to make them safe. So I've. This is my third book. I also have a chapter in a book on cybercrime that was, was published earlier. Well, late last year, I guess it was. So, yeah, this is my third book. This will be my third book.

>> Tiffanie: Well, I hope the police read it and they're taking in accountability. Everything you guys have in there, I think every police department needs this. That way, they can stay on top of it, because it seems like they're just always one step ahead.

>> Art Bowker: Well, and the thing that we wanted to point out in our book is, you know, and the FBI has an initiative out now that it's really pushing prevention. You can have. You're never going to have enough police to catch this. The best thing is prevention. And we wanted to educate the public in how to prevent being, a cyber, victim, and what to do to minimize it and recover from it and go on with your life.

>> Tiffanie: Right. Prevention is key. It's hard, but it's key.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah, it's a lot, it's a lot easier to get, you know, a thousand people to just not click on that link and not answer, that spam or not get involved in a romance scheme, then have to investigate ten of them, and try and recover those losses, right.

>> Tiffanie: Because for the most part, I mean, I know overseas it's very hard to get that money back, if ever it's, they can do it because even in their own countries they don't really care.

>> Art Bowker: It seems like, well, and they're converting it to like cryptocurrency and which makes it harder, although law enforcement is able to seize that. it's just if you don't catch it right away, it's gone. That money's gone and you're not going to see it. I know the cases that we mentioned in the book, the one was an elderly couple. It was again, scheme where your computer has been used to download child pornography and your computer's compromised. You need to pay us to get this cleaned out. And they actually withdrew money and we're waiting for the couriers to come and pick it up. And they had second thoughts and they go, wait a minute, let's call somebody. And they were able to catch the courier and it turned out it was a major ring. The organization was using college, students, I think, from Taiwan to act as couriers to pick up the money and then make deposits, which were transferred overseas. So yeah, it takes, you want to stop it before it gets to that point. And too often law enforcement is playing catch up to react to these schemes after they've occurred and people are being victimized. But you know, one of the things that, you know, we advocate is report those schemes through the Internet crimes, center. And they were, able to identify patterns and you know, they might be able to put the pieces together and, and make a case and at least stop the people and maybe recover some of the assets back.

>> Tiffanie: Right. I mean, I also remember, oh my gosh, this was even like years ago, before AI and everything. I was selling something online and they're like, well, we want this, but we're going to give you more money than what you asked for. So deposit the check. And then if you can send back a certain amount of money. I was like, what in the hell?

>> Art Bowker: That is a classic scheme that, small businesses get hit with that I'm going to pay you more than what you need. Oh, I inadvertently cut you a bigger check. Just send it back to me. And the original check bounces and they're out, the overage and maybe even the, item that they sent to, that's a big thing with, small businesses getting hit with those things. We also have a chapter for dealing with small businesses and we have a chapter to dealing with marketplaces, you know, Facebook marketplace and that, and how to engage in those sales in a safe manner so you don't get victimized if you have to, if, it's a large purchase, how to arrange the exchange at a police department, there's certain police departments that have, safe zones for that, and things to do, so never take more than what the payment was. Cash is kings, as they say. But, you know, those kinds of things, those kinds of frauds weren't possible if you were running a garage sale and you're, and, you know, the guy didn't take it unless he gave you cash. But the online, it creates those opportunities for fraud.

>> Tiffanie: Oh, for sure. I know offer up was one for biggest, big time. You post something and you'd almost get an immediate response, I want your item. Can we do it on cash app or can we? And it's just like, no, this isn't how you do it. And then ship it to me. No, this is like a local thing. So, no, we're not doing it.

>> Art Bowker: You have people bidding, the bidding schemes where they'll, you know, have a co conspirator to make the, make the bid go high and then undercut and cancel and the bill, the bid shilling and just things that weren't possible in a, in a normal auctioneer setting.


Next month is national cybersecurity month. And I think it's romance fraud scheme day awareness

so we talk about all those kinds of things and how to prevent yourself from being victimized. And unfortunately, there's also cases where people have advertised stuff online and it's not just the money they're stealing, they're killing people to get the things. There's been cases of robbery, that have ended in death. I know in the Cleveland area it was, people were offering to buy motorcycles and whatnot. And you have these people from out of, out of the, out of the area come in with their motorcycle and they go, oh, can I give it a try? Can I give it a drive around them for a little bit? And they'd let the guy drive and they would take off with the motorcycle. So, you know, the people are very imaginable when they have criminal intent. and, the computer makes it so much easier to do that.

>> Tiffanie: Well, yeah, you're hiding behind a screen. You can be anyone that you want to be. That's the scary part.

>> Art Bowker: Yep. You impersonate anybody. You can be multiple people at the same time. there's been cases where people have, like in a sexual predator case, maybe pretending to be, well, I know a coach and it's really just them now. They're just switching Personas. They could pretend to be a female and they're actually a male, or vice versa. And of course, unfortunately, kids could do the same thing. They could pretend to be somebody older and, you know, commit a fraud. I actually wrote an article about juveniles, juvenile computer, delinquents. And the computer has given them the opportunity to commit crimes that only adults used to be able to commit. counterfeiting, and other things.

>> Tiffanie: That's crazy. I'll make sure that I put your book link in the show notes for anyone. I'm guessing it's probably on Amazon.

>> Art Bowker: It actually went on Amazon for advanced sales today, in fact. So it's up for advanced sales. it's supposed, we were told the third Wenich in October. So we're excited that it's coming out. Next month is national cybersecurity month. And I think it's the fourth is romance fraud scheme day awareness because of the number of romance fraud schemes that are out there that are victimizing people.

>> Tiffanie: Right. I just want any listeners that are listening, if you talk to anybody online and you never see their face, you never like talk to an actual person, most likely you're not talking to who you think you're talking to. You know, some of these people will hold conversations for years with people and, never met them, never saw them face to face, never like Facetimed with them or anything. And that's the red flag.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah, well, and one of these, I know from being online that one thing they'll do is they'll have one person, you know, start the text conversation and they'll go, let's do a webcam. And you're doing a webcam with somebody who's totally different than the person you were texting with. M and they will, they will. You know, you could be texting if, you're a male and thinking you're talking to a female. You could be talking to a male on the text, but they present a female the, in the video. And without AI, they were going all the cameras bad. I have to, you know, cut off. They would make excuses why the conversation couldn't continue, but, with AI, they could fabricate the whole, everything. And it's just, it's a frightening time really is.

>> Tiffanie: I had an episode before called AI Friend or Foe, and it's pretty much the same thing. You know, a lady got a call that her daughter was kidnapped and she was about to get her credit card so she could make the payment, and her daughter walked in, had no clue what was going on. That is just so scary. And I just, I don't know if it's here to do good or evil well.

>> Art Bowker: And, these, these, a lot of these schemes, will they, will they play on psychological, techniques? I've actually, I've got a, I'm reading a book, a really excellent book by NFPA, an FBI agent, and there's a couple professors as well, where he basically talks about the psychological tricks that people use. And one of them is time. You know, you've got to do this now or something bad or something good. You're going to miss out on a good opportunity, you know, and time is of essence, and that plays in your psychological, like, oh, I got to do this now or I'm going lose out or something bad is going to happen. So they know what triggers and to play. Those are some common things. Do this now, right away, or you're going to lose out on this opportunity.

>> Tiffanie: I get emails like that all the time. This is your last chance. And what do you know, a week later, this is your last chance. I thought I already missed that.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah. And, one thing about this, he talks about, he uses the analogies of magicians that, you know, magicians, they have you look this way while they're doing something you don't want to see. They divert your attention. And a lot of these techniques that are being employed by these criminals are doing that. Like, if, they have you go to a website, they may have something interesting, and it's not showing you that you're downloading something you shouldn't be. I guess the safest bet is don't engage with people. You don't know who they are. And, don't click on links. Your bank is not going to send you an email. they're going to send you a letter. And of course, some letters are also doing the same thing where they direct you to a bogus website. So, you know, you really have to be diligent. right. Ah.

>> Tiffanie: And I had a call once that said, my Social Security number has been pended. I'm like, I don't think that's a thing. Suspend or pend your Social Security number. Like, that's not, that's not a thing.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah, I've gotten telephone calls from the Social Security saying that I was going to be arrested. And I'm like, really? What am I going to be arrested for? And, you know, well, you're, there's a warrant for your arrest. And, I'm like, really? That's fascinating. Why don't you come pick me up? You know, and I have, I have engaged. I had met on board days. So, like, okay, well, let's play it around. Let's see how far this goes. But unfortunately, some people don't realize it's a scam and they get like, hood and waked.

>> Tiffanie: M. Yeah, unfortunately. I mean, anybody who's listening, if you know anyone who needs to hear this episode, make sure you share it with them, because the more we all know, the better chances we have of not being a victim to this because it's happening in so many different ways. I mean, we've just talked about like seven, eight, nine different ways.


If your computer's not properly protected, hackers can get a lot of data

And they're going to keep coming up with more.

>> Art Bowker: Yeah. It, you know, the story I just told you about where they were sending, like, I know what you did in home, and I've got, I'm monitoring you, I'm recording you, and here's a picture of a house. Okay. I know my house is, my picture of my house is online. So is everybody else's because of Google. What does that mean? But it's enough to convince them, oh, gee, maybe they do know what I'm doing online. Well, okay. You know, and again, they'll do the time factor. You need to send this money now or else, you know, you know, that's a technique that they use.

>> Tiffanie: My question is, if you're worried about that, what are you doing?

>> Art Bowker: Well, we used to say, because with the computers, they really are a window into your soul because all your search histories are on the computer and what you searched for. In fact, there's an interesting book I read a number of years ago where they, they talked about the number of searches, what people were searching for at different times through Google, and they analyzed that. And some of the things were frightening that what people were searching for, around the presidential election and just, it's, it's scary, but, you know, they think the computer, nobody's paying attention, nobody's can get that information. Well, if your computer's ever taken, if it's not properly protected, they can get a heck of a lot of data out of it. And we actually talk about disposing of your computer. How do you dispose of it? What do you, you know, what are the techniques, do you wipe it? Do you destroy the drives? Do you hire somebody to do it? And we also talk about, you know, when you discard trash, how do you destroy your information? there's a term that hackers used to call dumpster diving, and that's how they used to get passwords and manuals. They would have, and corporations dumpsters and retrieve data that, you know, hard copies of what the company had thrown away, and they would have passwords and information there. So, you know, we talk about, you know, just, you know, how to, how to safeguard your data even, you know, when, when it's no longer of use. One of the things we also, you know, with cars, you don't think about, you know, the new cars. You, you hook up your cell phone so you can talk hands free, and, well, that downloads your contacts. And depending on how much information, what this computer is that's on your car now, and if you're renting a car and you do the same thing, that rental car has it on there. So you need to think about what you're doing with your data and where you're saving it and making sure it's safeguarded or securely gone so somebody can't use it against you.

>> Tiffanie: That's a good one. I didn't even think about that, but absolutely, you never know. So. Absolutely.


The book is intended for the general public to understand cybercrime prevention

Is there anything else you wanted to add?

>> Art Bowker: No, I, you know, I'm happy that you had me on this show. we're just trying to get the word out and, you know, education. I mean, the book talks about this stuff in detail, and we've got, we, like, checklists. There's, like, checklists that people can go through, and there's a lot of drawings. And, we tried to make it as simple. We had. We, we wrote it. Our, we wrote it. And to ask is, does this make sense? Do you understand this? And I know my, my, author's wife had told him, man, this makes a lot of sense. This, you know, we did a good job. We tried to make it as easily understandable for the layperson. And we've had kind of pushback, pushing on our publisher that this is not an it book. We talk about computers, but it is not an it book. It is for the general public to understand what they need to prevent a cybercrime, from happening and what to do to recover from it. So that's pretty much it. That's what I wanted, is to, to, push out.

>> Tiffanie: Well, I really appreciate it. We need stuff like this because there's so many gullible people and people who just want to believe that people are good. And unfortunately, that's just not the case for everybody. you got to be careful. You got to cover your ass, as they say.

>> Art Bowker: Yes, definitely.

>> Tiffanie: All right, well, thank you so much, and thank you, everybody, for listening. Make sure you check out trucrimeconnections.com for more episodes, and we will talk next time. Bye.