Tootfinder

Alice Guo, Chinese national who ran huge scam centre while Philippines mayor, sentenced to life in prison
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/20/alice-guo-chinese-nat…

Alice Guo, Chinese national who ran huge scam centre while Philippines mayor, sentenced to life in prison
Guo, who pretended to be Filipina to become mayor, found guilty of human trafficking after raid on compound where more than 700 people were forced to run scams

How a freelancer's suspicious pitch led an editor to dig into past work, finding inconsistencies and falsehoods, as tech makes falsifying writing trivially easy (Nicholas Hune-Brown/The Local)
https://thelocal.to/investigating-scam-journalism-ai/

Investigating a Possible Scammer in Journalism’s AI Era | The Local
A suspicious pitch from a freelancer led editor Nicholas Hune-Brown to dig into their past work. By the end, four publications, including The Guardian and Dwell, had removed articles from their sites.

Google sues the Chinese-speaking cybercriminal group known as Darcula, behind an alleged US text message phishing ring, in the US, seeking a restraining order (Kevin Collier/NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/google-sues…

Google sues Chinese scam ring over E-ZPass, USPS phishing texts
Google is suing a Chinese-speaking cybercriminal group it says is responsible for a massive wave of scam text messages sent to Americans this year.

A new US law enforcement initiative is aimed at crypto fraudsters targeting Americans
—and now seeks to seize infrastructure it claims is crucial to notorious scam compounds
DOJ Issued Seizure Warrant to Starlink Over Satellite Internet Systems Used at Scam Compound
…

DOJ Issued Seizure Warrant to Starlink Over Satellite Internet Systems Used at Scam Compound
A new US law enforcement initiative is aimed at crypto fraudsters targeting Americans—and now seeks to seize infrastructure it claims is crucial to notorious scam compounds.

The cyber news machine never stops cranking away, so check out today's Metacurity for the most critical infosec developments you should know, including
--The US, UK, and Australia sanction Russian bulletproof hosting providers,
--Alice Guo sentenced to life for running scam compound,
--Samourai Wallet operator sentenced to four years,
--SK Telecom rejects breach mediation proposal,
--USBP is massively surveilling Americans,
--Trump to preempt state AI …

The US, UK, and Australia sanction Russian bulletproof hosting providers
Alice Guo sentenced to life for running scam compound, Samourai Wallet operator sentenced to four years, SK Telecom rejects breach mediation proposal, USBP is massively surveilling Americans, Trump to preempt state AI safety laws, Eternidade Stealer gets more aggressive in Brazil, much more

"Jesus and Kathia are not sure what to do now, or where they will sleep if their vehicle is towed. The options for family shelter are limited until her child is born, she said, and she does not want to leave her dog, who also lives in her RV, behind."
https://missionlocal.org/2025…

RV dwellers say S.F. homeless outreach worker is selling parking permits for hundreds in cash
The city is investigating allegations into a man dressed as an outreach worker. In text exchanges, an RV dweller begs for his money back.

I’m getting enough of these to think it must be the new Nigerian prince scam. Am I right? Anyone know how it works?

Cambodia to repatriate South Koreans ensnared by scam industry amid diplomatic pressure https://therecord.media/cambodia-repatriating-south-koreans-scam-compounds

This Amazon BBVA "promoting" is super annoying and feels very much like a scam.

Each week Metacurity offers our free and paid subscribers a run-down of the best infosec-related long reads.
This week's selection covers
--Scattered Spider's Urban speaks,
--EU nations subsidize spyware makers,
--AI chatbots fool senior citizens with phishing,
--Scam compounds endanger job seekers and tourists,
--Meat and dairy companies spy on activists,
--Texas wants in on Chihuahua's massive surveillance,
--Cyber outsourcing thr…

Best infosec-related long reads for the week of 9/13/25
Scattered Spider's Urban speaks, EU nations subsidize spyware makers, AI chatbots fool senior citizens with phishing, Scam compounds endanger job seekers and tourists, Meat and dairy companies spy on activists, Texas wants in on Chihuahua's massive surveillance, Cyber outsourcing threatens the UK

Meta earns $16B a year from targeted scam ads.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/bombshell-report-exposes-how-meta-relied-on-scam-ad-profits-to-fund-ai/
This is fine and normal.

Bombshell report exposes how Meta relied on scam ad profits to fund AI
Meta goosed its revenue by targeting users likely to click on scam ads, docs show.

South Korea restricts travel to Cambodia over online scam center kidnappings; the UK and US sanction Cambodia's Prince Group for allegedly running scam centers (Christian Davies/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/aa354f02-8e11-42d3-9f64-41b81a4f27df

Apparently the "Brother printer support scam" is still a thing. Great job, search engines, certificate providers, browser developers, and every other tech field that's failed to stanch this over the last decade or two.

Chairman of Prince Group Indicted for Operating Cambodian Forced Labor Scam Compounds Engaged in Cryptocurrency Fraud Schemes (US Department of Justice)
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chairman-prince-group-indicted-operating-cambodian-forced-labor-scam-compounds-engaged
http://www.memeorandum.com/251014/p121#a251014p121

But Republicans want you to believe that "college is a scam" & unskilled labor & trade schools are what Americans should aim for.
Uneducated citizens make for voters that #Republicans can easily manipulate.
▶️ I Worked For Hyundai. What I Saw Will Shock You.

"Wintermute reported that the median crypto token price drop was around 54%, and more than 90% of tokens lost more than 10% of their value"
#Crypto is and always was a hungry scam that eats suckers. Don't be a sucker. Don't touch crypto.

Anatomy of a crypto meltdown
October 2025 brought the most dramatic crypto flash crash of all time, but it was only a dress rehearsal for the systemic crisis the industry is building toward.

Meta verdient Milliarden mit betrügerischer Werbung
Wir sehen dubiose Anzeigen, Zuckerberg wird reich: So lautet offenbar ein Teil des Geschäfts. Scam bringt Meta Milliarden ein.
https://www.

*Me staring at a pair of leggings with elaborate Celtic knotwork on the thighs and calves and wanting*
My brain: “you know this is a scam, right? That would take hours and hours of work on the part of a costumer, like how you used to be? And they’re $30‽ c’mon!”
Me: “shut up brain”

The complexity and effort that went into this scam are amazing.
Inside a Wild Bitcoin Heist: Five-Star Hotels, Cash-Stuffed Envelopes, and Vanishing Funds
https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-scam-mining-as-service/

Inside a Wild Bitcoin Heist: Five-Star Hotels, Cash-Stuffed Envelopes, and Vanishing Funds
Sophisticated crypto scams are on the rise. But few of them go to the lengths one bitcoin mining executive experienced earlier this year.

"Recent raids on one of #Myanmar 's most notorious internet #scam hubs sparked a recruitment rush as fleeing workers scrambled to enlist at nearby #fraud factories"

Meta is in the scam business. According to an internal assessment, 10% of its mind-blowing revenue is generated by scam. As a consequence, Meta actually promotes such content, charging it a higher rate, until a high-profile authority draws attention to it.
https://

Bombshell report exposes how Meta relied on scam ad profits to fund AI
Meta goosed its revenue by targeting users likely to click on scam ads, docs show.

Why don’t they capture these vessels and display what they were carrying?
Wouldn’t that be better PR?
Unless maybe it’s all a big scam.
-- @ambientheat.bsky.social
https://bsky.app/profile/ambientheat.bsky.social/post/3lyvo6edkrk27

MJ (@ambientheat.bsky.social)
Why don’t they capture these vessels and display what they were carrying? Wouldn’t that be better PR? Unless maybe it’s all a big scam. 🧐

'I am outraged!' Trump unleashes fury over newly passed 'scam' - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2674206522/

Ena pš, fantšstico! Alguém quer fazer-me uma doação de dois milhões e quinhentos mil euros! Maravilha! Só vou ter de pagar uns quantos milhares para ter acesso ao dinheiro, sem dúvida.
#scam

🎣 Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built on “human suffering”
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/10/feds-seize-15-billion-from-alleged-forced-labor-scam-built-on-human-suffering/

Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built on “human suffering”
Scams like this one net billions from well-educated victims.

Depaywalled link: http://archive.today/2025.09.19-124849/https://www.wired.com/story/sms-blasters-scam-texts/

DOJ Issued Seizure Warrant to Starlink Over Satellite Internet Systems Used at Scam Compound
https://www.wired.com/story/doj-issued-seizure-warrants-to-starlink-over-satellite-internet-systems-used-at-scam-compounds/<…

DOJ Issued Seizure Warrant to Starlink Over Satellite Internet Systems Used at Scam Compound
A new US law enforcement initiative is aimed at crypto fraudsters targeting Americans—and now seeks to seize infrastructure it claims is crucial to notorious scam compounds.

Woman pleads guilty in multimillion-dollar scam involving ski passes at Utah resorts #fraud

The US DOJ seizes ~$15B in bitcoin from a man who oversaw a Cambodian "pig butchering" operation, in the DOJ's largest ever forfeiture; the man remains at large (Dan Mangan/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/14/bitcoin-doj-chen-zhi-pig-butchering-s…

DOJ seizes $15 billion in bitcoin from massive 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia
An indictment says forced-labor compounds ran cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes that stole billions of dollars from victims in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Sequestered Conformal Anomaly Mediation (SCAM)
Michael Nee, Lisa Randall
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11784 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.11784

Sequestered Conformal Anomaly Mediation (SCAM)
Supersymmetric models in singular extra dimensional spaces feature prominently in many interesting phenomenological models, including those derived from string theory. In this paper we explicitly derive the low energy theory of phenomenologically viable supersymmetric theories in five dimensions, and highlight several aspects of these models that are not obvious from working solely in the 4d effective theory. Important deviations arise for anomaly mediation, which is purported to be a predictiv…

Got this email and thought, "Ha that is a scam. There is no way that the real Paypal would provide a link to update to login and card details!" 🤣
I mean they are a well known entity, with a well known domain, they can just tell you to do it. It's not like you don't know the URL.
But no, that is exactly what they have done. 🤯
P.S. Paypal, yes I know but sometimes it is the only way to pay. 😢

US DHS: Chinese criminal organizations made $1B in the past three years via scam texts; Proofpoint: last month, a record 330K US toll-scam texts were reported (Robert McMillan/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/cybersecurity/url

A look at CollectiveMetrics.org, a new nonprofit founded by two ex-Meta ad executives that aims to bring more transparency to digital advertising to fight scams (Craig Silverman/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/scam-ads-are-flooding-so…

Scam Ads Are Flooding Social Media. These Former Meta Staffers Have a Plan
Rob Leathern and Rob Goldman, who both worked at Meta, are launching a new nonprofit that aims to bring transparency to an increasingly opaque, scam-filled social media ecosystem.

The "let's build datacenters in space!" thing is so obviously an investment scam that it's not even funny

Their plan seems NOT to try and eliminate or at least minimize these ads, but rather to see if they can extract premium rates because the ads have been IDENTIFIED as scams.
JFC, why would anyone do business with this company. Why would functioning governments (this sadly excludes the US rn) allow this company to operate within its borders.
This is not a whoopsie. This is a deliberate corporate decision to allow users to be preyed upon and profit from it.

Bombshell Report Exposes How Meta Relied On Scam Ad Profits To Fund AI - Slashdot
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/11/08/0653232/bombshell-report-exposes-how-meta-relied-on-scam-ad-profits-to-fund-ai

Internal documents have revealed that Meta has projected it earns billions from ignoring scam ads that its platforms then targeted to users most likely to click on them.
@… is a gem.

Bombshell report exposes how Meta relied on scam ad profits to fund AI
Meta goosed its revenue by targeting users likely to click on scam ads, docs show.

"Google is suing alleged members of one 'relentless' Chinese smishing group that it claims has tried to con people in more than 120 countries around the world."
https://www.wired.com/story/lighthouse-google-lawsuit-scam-text-messages/

This Is the Platform Google Claims Is Behind a 'Staggering’ Scam Text Operation
Google is suing 25 people it alleges are behind a “relentless” scam text operation that uses a phishing-as-a-service platform called Lighthouse.

SpaceX deaktiviert Starlink-Antennen bei mutmaßlichen Scam-Zentren in Myanmar
Im Bürgerkriegsland Myanmar werden unzählige Menschen festgehalten und gezwungen, mit Betrug online Geld einzutreiben. Nun ist auch SpaceX dagegen vorgegangen.

Isn't it fun that the #Gentoo Treecleaner mail alias is getting #scam from 4 different "administrators" in a row?
#spam

How soon before LLMs replace the laborers?
Age of the ‘scam state’: how an illicit, multibillion-dollar industry has taken root in south-east Asia
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/02/sc…

How soon before LLMs replace the laborers?
Age of the ‘scam state’: how an illicit, multibillion-dollar industry has taken root in south-east Asia
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/02/sc…

Czy to nie interesujące, że alias pocztowy zespołu #Gentoo Treecleaner otrzymuje #scam od czterech różnych "administratorów poczty" z rzędu?
#spam

Don't miss today's jam-packed Metacurity for the most crucial infosec developments you should know, including
--US seizes $15 billion, sanctions Huione group, and indicts Cambodian scam ringleader,
--S. Korea seeks return of disappeared workers from Cambodia,
--First Wap has built a phone-tracking empire,
--Microsoft plugs 172 security holes,
--Windows 10 reaches end-of-support,
--ICO fines Capita $19m for 2023 data breach protection fails,
--…

US seizes $15 billion, sanctions Huione group, and indicts Cambodian scam ringleader
S. Korea seeks return of disappeared workers from Cambodia, First Wap has built a phone-tracking empire, Microsoft plugs 172 security holes, Windows 10 reaches end-of-support, ICO fines Capita $19m for 2023 data breach protection fails, PowerSchool hacker sentenced to 4 years, much more

One of my friends tagged me in a #Facebook #LikeFarming #scam I looked at the number of likes - we still have much work to do (sigh)

Detecting YouTube Scam Videos via Multimodal Signals and Policy Reasoning
Ummay Kulsum, Aafaq Sabir, Abhinaya S. B., Anupam Das
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23418 https://

Detecting YouTube Scam Videos via Multimodal Signals and Policy Reasoning
YouTube has emerged as a dominant platform for both information dissemination and entertainment. However, its vast accessibility has also made it a target for scammers, who frequently upload deceptive or malicious content. Prior research has documented a range of scam types, and detection approaches rely primarily on textual or statistical metadata. Although effective to some extent, these signals are easy to evade and potentially overlook other modalities, such as visual cues. In this study,…

Google files lawsuit to disrupt massive ‘Lighthouse’ smishing scheme https://therecord.media/google-files-lawsuit-to-disrupt-lighthouse-scam

Meta is essentially one big scam/fraud.
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortune-deluge-fraudulent-ads-documents-show-2025-11-06/

Zum Glück gibt es GIFs auf Telegram. Da macht es mindestens etwas Spass, mit Scamern zu plaudern. #scam

Americans are rightly waking up -- much of higher education is now a scam (New York Post)
https://nypost.com/2025/11/30/opinion/more-americans-are-realizing-a-four-year-degree-is-an-expensive-scam/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251201/p12#a251201p12

It’s #ScamSeason again (spoiler: it’s always scam season) so I’m here to remind everyone to go to all three of the major credit bureau web sites and do two things. First, run your free credit check (you get 3 free checks a year at each of them). Look for anything suspicious, like credit cards you didn’t sign up for. Contest them. Second, lock your credit account so nobody can sign up for a card,…

What's the most spam, slop, and scam infested hashtag here?
One of the worst I've seen is #SEO (eww)

Wow. I just got my first abandoned/frozen #crypto #wallet #scam call.
He knew my name, obviously had my number, but that shit leaks all the time.
Email address? Dunno mate, you tell me. If you're calling from the excha…

Fox struggles to run cover for Trump calling affordability crisis a “hoax,” “scam,” and “con job” | Media Matters for America
https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-struggles-run-cover-trump-calling-affordability-crisis-hoax-scam-and-con-job

Encountering a lot of the scam where I buy something in the UK and it recognizes my US credit card and charges me in dollars instead of pounds. With a currency conversion fee, often 3% or more. I do not have the option to prevent this. Mostly this is at POS terminals in restaurants, etc.
Uber also does this but they have a clear notification, an opt-out, and a sort of reasonable 1.5% fee. Still don't want it, I have 0% fee on my credit card.

Metacurity is pleased to offer our free and premium subscribers a weekly digest of the best long-form (and longish) infosec-related pieces we couldn't properly fit into our daily news crush.
This week's selection covers
--The time is now to end cybersecurity with AI,
--Prosecutors say PowerSchool hacker was skilled,
--People with facial differences struggle with digital identity systems,
--Autistic teens can't grasp ramifications of digital crimes, …

Best infosec-related long reads for the week of 10/11/25
The time is now to end cybersecurity with AI, Prosecutors say PowerSchool hacker was skilled, People with facial differences struggle with digital identity systems, Autistic teens can't grasp ramifications of digital crimes, Online predator groups can kill teens, Crypto ATMs rip off scam victims

They traveled to Thailand. They wound up cyber scam slaves in Myanmar. #crime

They traveled to Thailand. They wound up cyber scam slaves in Myanmar.
A multibillion-dollar fraud industry has taken root across Southeast Asia, fueled partly by trafficking victims. In lawless zones along the Myanmar-Thai border, Chinese-run compounds force thousands to scam strangers online under threat of violence. Thailand has become a key transit hub, Reuters found.

Myanmar shut down a major online scam center on October 21 as part of operations starting in September to curb cross-border online scams and illegal gambling (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-scam-centers-cybercr…

Stragglers from Myanmar scam center raided by army cross into Thailand as buildings are blown up
A Thai regional army commander say that the number of people fleeing from Myanmar to Thailand after Myanmar’s military shut down a major online scam center has slowed to a trickle. The news on Tuesday came after more than 1,500 people had left in the past week. The KK Park site was identified by Thai officials and independent experts as housing a major cybercrime operation. It was raided by Myanmar’s army in mid-October as part of operations starting in early September to suppress cross-bor…

Wat ik al zei: het #kieskompas is dusdanig slecht, ik vind het een scam. Als het per ongeluk is, dan zouden ze het in moeten trekken. https://stukroodvlees.nl/kieskompas-nou-doet-u-het-weer/

Kieskompas gaat weer in de fout - StukRoodVlees
Gisteren kwam het Kieskompas voor de Tweede Kamerverkiezingen van 2025 online. Vier geleden schreef ik een kritisch stuk over deze populaire stemhulp. Op in ieder geval deze punten rammelde het Kieskompas: 1) het ruimtelijk model was geen goede weergave van de partijenruimte en 2) het Kieskompas gebruikte ten onrechte wisselende items om veranderingen door de […]

China sentences 5 Myanmar scam kingpins to death https://therecord.media/china-sentences-5-myanmar-scam-kingpins-to-death

https://www.billboard.com/pro/taylor-swift-sabrina-carpenter-impersonators-scam-fans-2025/
TAYLOR SWIFT, SABRINA CARPENTER IMPERSONATORS SCAM FANS OUT OF $5.3 BILLION IN 2025: REPORT

Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter Impersonators Scam Fans Out of $5.3 Billion in 2025: Report
Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter impersonators scammed fans out of $5.3 billion in 2025 as AI-powered fraud surged, a new report reveals.

This is a nice gesture (and a horrid photograph) but I do wonder whether either of the Dells have read the law that created those "trump accounts".
I did read the law.
It is like most R-party "accounts" - a scam (largely benefiting crypto bros.)
It is one of the most badly drafted pieces of legislation that I have seen. It is full of ambiguities that will lead to future disputes over who gets what.
It is a law so poorly crafted that it will make t…

Dell CEO pledges $6 billion to ‘Trump accounts’ for American children
The executive and his wife said the donation will seed investment accounts for 25 million children under 10, building off a program launched in Trump’s tax law.

Ny (?) type scam, just indkommet på min telefon:

🚨 Scammer warning
This account is direct messaging people from Gaza to try and scam them:
@…
Attached is a screenshot of a direct message that one of our Gaza Verified members got.
The mind boggles. What kind of lowlife targets people who are already facing famine and genocide to rob them of the money they need to survive?
In …

South Korea Targets Cambodia’s Scam Industry After Kidnaps, Torture and a Death
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/world/asia/cambodia-south-korea-scams.html#:~:text=About 200…

South Korea Targets Cambodia’s Scam Industry After Kidnaps, Torture and a Death
South Korea’s efforts are part of a widening international crackdown on criminal groups running online fraud schemes from Southeast Asia.

A Chinese court sentences five top members of an infamous Myanmar mafia to death as Beijing continues its crackdown on scam operations, convicting 21 in total (Koh Ewe/BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9pyljl009o

China sentences infamous Myanmar scam mafia members to death
The Bai family is among notorious crime gangs ensnared in a crackdown on scam networks.

I’ve said it before, but chatbot user interfaces that pretend to be human or human-like need to be banned.
It’s a deceitful, dehumanizing and deeply unethical scam.

Give a round of applause to the Brevard County, FL deputy's office for almost immediately clawing back $1.7m stolen during a real estate transaction BEC scam.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2025/10/14/hacke…

Hackers scammed Brevard County resident out of over $1.7M, sheriff says
A real estate scam nearly left one Brevard County resident out of over $1.7 million, according to the sheriff’s office on Tuesday.

Seniors targeted in global Facebook scam spreading new Android malware https://therecord.media/seniors-targeted-facebook-android-malware-scam

Myanmar scam cities booming despite crackdown - using Musk's Starlink | AFP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdwuFWjclNE

And who was still POTUS on #Jan6?
THE BIDEN FBI PLACED 274 AGENTS INTO THE CROWD ON JANUARY 6. If this is so, which it is, a lot of very good people will be owed big apologies. What a SCAM - DO SOMETHING!!!
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115359345947837427

DOJ takes down Myanmar scam center website spoofing TickMill trading platform https://therecord.media/doj-takes-down-myanmar-scam-site-trickmill-spoof

China can't keep
Its Hands Clean in Myanmar’s Scam Cities
Ties between organized crime syndicates and Chinese intelligence run deep
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/23/myanmar-china-pig-butchering-scams-slavery/

China Can’t Keep Its Hands Clean in Myanmar’s Scam Cities
Ties between organized crime syndicates and Chinese intelligence run deep.

El Cheeto pees on everything, including our goverment and ourselves.
One wonders where he is taking his cut our of this probable scam:
"President announces TrumpRx website for drugs, and pricing deal with Pfizer"
From the article:
The website deals would only be accessible for patients not using their health insurance, according to one of the government officials briefing reporters anonymously. And even then, the discounted medicines might not be afford…

Starlink VP Lauren Dreyer says the company "proactively identified and disabled over 2,500 Starlink Kits in the vicinity of suspected 'scam centers'" in Myanmar (James Reddick/The Record)
https://therecord.media/spacex-disables-starlink-kits-…

SpaceX disables more than 2,000 Starlink devices used in Myanmar scam compounds
Lauren Dreyer, the vice-president of Starlink’s business operations, said in a post on X Tuesday night that the company “proactively identified and disabled over 2,500 Starlink Kits in the vicinity of suspected ‘scam centers’” in Myanmar.

De #kieskompas scam is weer online.
Vul je alle vragen tegengesteld in aan de mening van het NSC, waar kom je dan terecht in het 'politieke landschap'? Jawel, vlak bij NSC (en bij CDA wat basically dezelfde partij is maar dan zonder al die minkukels).
Trap er niet in!

Check out today's Metacurity for the most crucial cybersecurity developments you should know, including
--CISA plans to fire 54 employees despite court injunction,
--Google reports new ways threat actors can use AI in their attacks,
--KT accused of concealing BPFDoor infection,
--Meta earns $7b a year in scam ads,
--Hackers stole data from Hyundai AutoEver America,
--Chinese court sentences scam operators to death,
--NV ransomware attack took plac…

CISA plans to fire 54 employees despite court injunction
Google reports new ways threat actors can use AI in their attacks, KT accused of concealing BPFDoor infection, Meta earns $7b a year in scam ads, Hackers stole data from Hyundai AutoEver America, Chinese court sentences scam operators to death, NV ransomware attack took place in May, much more

China court sentences 11 people to death over alleged role in family-run Myanmar scam operations
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/30/china-court-sentences-11-people-to-death-over-alleged-r…

Relative to many, my life is very good,
-- in that I am alive and housed, fed, sometimes employed.
I am healthy and loved.
Still, I am about to lose my entire mind over the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) website,
and the fact that someone,
probably a bot farmer,
has already used my 16-year-old son’s identity to establish a fraudulent account.
This is a common scam,
one that was fortunately detected before any money changed …

FAFSA Is Breaking Me
I think I have been holding it together in the face of everything we can’t stop talking about—the killing and the dying, the explosions and the terror, the eggs and the bird flu and the shameless ghouls ruining the good parts of our country, the weapons and the

The Destruction of a Notorious Myanmar Scam Compound Appears to Have Been ‘Performative
https://www.wired.com/story/myanmar-kk-park-scam-compound-destruction/

The Destruction of a Notorious Myanmar Scam Compound Appears to Have Been ‘Performative’
Myanmar’s military has been blowing up parts of the KK Park scam compound. Experts say the actions are likely for show.

Note that this is specific to generic chatbots.
There’s plenty of useful applications for the underlying technologies—but it’s all pretty boring specialized stuff with not a lot of mass-market appeal which doesn’t lend itself to the scam the chatbot companies are running.

A look at life in online scam compounds run by Chinese gangs on the Myanmar-Thai border, with purported Thai immigration officials luring trafficking victims (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/SOUTHEASTASIA-SCAMS/mypmxwdwwvr/

They traveled to Thailand. They wound up cyber scam slaves in Myanmar.
A multibillion-dollar fraud industry has taken root across Southeast Asia, fueled partly by trafficking victims. In lawless zones along the Myanmar-Thai border, Chinese-run compounds force thousands to scam strangers online under threat of violence. Thailand has become a key transit hub, Reuters found.

We've reached the point in the evolution of cyber scamming where military units are blowing up buildings to stop the digital crimes.
Stragglers from Myanmar scam center raided by army cross into Thailand as buildings are blown up
https://apnews.com/artic…

Stragglers from Myanmar scam center raided by army cross into Thailand as buildings are blown up
A Thai regional army commander say that the number of people fleeing from Myanmar to Thailand after Myanmar’s military shut down a major online scam center has slowed to a trickle. The news on Tuesday came after more than 1,500 people had left in the past week. The KK Park site was identified by Thai officials and independent experts as housing a major cybercrime operation. It was raided by Myanmar’s army in mid-October as part of operations starting in early September to suppress cross-bor…

Singapore seizes more than $115M in assets linked to Cambodia's Prince Group, which the US and UK accuse of stealing billions of dollars via online scam centers (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-31/…

SpaceX disables more than 2,000 Starlink devices used in Myanmar scam compounds https://therecord.media/spacex-disables-starlink-kits-in-myanmar-scam-compounds

Nothing says America First like bailing out Argentina while making healthcare unaffordable for 20 million Americans.
Or signing an Article 5 protection treaty with Qatar coz they bribed you with a plane, while screwing over longstanding NATO allies.
Folks, I think America First might be a scam.
-- Just Jack
http…

Scammers are using a supposed 19-minute sex video to install banking malware and it's gone viral.
https://zeenews.india.com/viral/scam-alert-viral-19-minute-video-malware-link-bank-account-2991795.html

Viral 19-Minute Video Link Is Malware Designed To Steal Your Bank Balance | Heres How
Cyber criminals are using the trending 19-Minute Video link on Instagram and X to deploy malware and steal your banking credentials. 

US announces ‘strike force’ to counter Southeast Asian cyber scams, sanctions Myanmar armed group https://therecord.media/strike-force-southeast-asia-scams

A profile of Chen Zhi, chairman of Cambodian conglomerate Prince Holding Group, accused by the US and UK of stealing billions of dollars via online scam centers (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Porn Is Being Injected Into Government Websites Via Malicious PDFs https://www.404media.co/porn-is-being-injected-into-government-websites-via-malicious-pdfs/

We're halfway through the post-Thanksgiving week, and the cyber news machine is cranking back up again, so check out today's Metacurity for the critical infosec developments you should know, including
--Indian government retreats from spy app mandate,
--US DOJ seizes Myanmar scam center website,
--Coupang execs sold company stock before breach was announced,
--Coupang is reviewing compensation for breach victims,
--Korea's Gmarket hit by string of una…

Indian government retreats from spy app mandate
US DOJ seizes Myanmar scam center website, Coupang execs sold company stock before breach was announced, Coupang is reviewing compensation for breach victims, Korea's Gmarket hit by string of unauthorized payments, Japan's Askul internet service resumes one month post-breach, much more

Yikes, so much cybersecurity news, so little time. Check out today's Metacurity for the most crucial developments you should know, including
--SpaceX pulls the plug on 2,000 Myanmar scam compounds' Starlink devices,
--PhantomCaptcha phishing campaign targeted critical Ukraine orgs,
--OpenAI is laid back on Atlas prompt injection flaws,
--Ransomware cases soar in Japan,
--N. Korean hackers have pilfered billions according to monitors,
--N. Korean ha…

SpaceX pulls the plug on 2,000+ Myanmar scam compounds' Starlink devices
PhantomCaptcha phishing campaign targeted critical Ukraine orgs, OpenAI is laid back on Atlas prompt injection flaws, Ransomware cases soar in Japan, N. Korean hackers have pilfered billions according to monitors, N. Korean hackers target drone makers, LG Uplus reports breach, much more

Don't miss today's Metacurity for the most critical infosec developments you should know, including
--Chinese hackers breached diplomats' email servers in a years-long campaign,
--China sentences 11 people to death for gambling and Myanmar scam operations,
--DOJ settles with Georgia Tech over fake cyber assessment score,
--Google launches new ransomware protection,
--Microsoft launches a security store,
--BNB Chain X account hacked,
--Img…

Chinese hackers breached diplomats' email servers in a years-long campaign
China sentences 11 people to death for gambling and Myanmar scam operations, DOJ settles with Georgia Tech over fake cyber assessment score, Google launches new ransomware protection, Microsoft launches a security store, BNB Chain X account hacked, Imgur blocked in UK, much more

A look at the implosion of CaaStle, a clothing inventory monetization startup whose ex-CEO Christine Hunsicker is accused of swindling investors out of $300M (Bloomberg)

Metacurity is pleased to offer our free and premium subscribers a weekly digest of the best long-form (and longish) infosec-related pieces we couldn't properly fit into our daily news crush.
This week's selection covers
--How an NYT reporter almost fell for a scam,
--Hackers increasingly take aim at small-town water systems,
--Citizens must shift their threat models under Trump's regime,
--Even the most innocent AI model can spew out dark material,

Best infosec-related long reads for the week of 9/20/25
How an NYT reporter almost fell for a scam, Hackers increasingly take aim at small-town water systems, Citizens must shift their threat models under Trump's regime, Even the most innocent AI model can spew out dark material, Building a pipeline for scraping CTI content from Telegram

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said it has asked Interpol for cooperation in a manhunt for the Chinese suspect currently residing in China.
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/law-crime/20251208…

Police confirm identity of Chinese mastermind behind KT payment breach
Police investigating the KT Corp. payment breach and micropayment scam said Monday they have identified the mastermind behind the crime, known as a...

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul signed an order on Friday revoking the Thai citizenship of Phat Suphapa, who is also known as Ly Yong Phat. Ly, a naturalized Thai national, he was accused of being involved with cyber-scam operations and human trafficking networks.
https://www.

This is a beautiful and amazing graphic novel about a phone scam victim.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-india-digital-arrest-by-phone-graphic-novel/

Hackers steal data, extort $350,000 from massage parlor clients
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-11-03/national/socialAffairs/Hackers-steal-data-extort-350000-from-massage-parlor-cli…

Hackers steal data, extort $350,000 from massage parlor clients
Police have arrested members of a hacking and phishing crime ring that stole data from massage parlor owner phones in order to scam their clients out of millions of won by threatening to release nonexistent “massage videos” if they didn't pay.

"Between 2014 and 2017 she led a large-scale scam in China which involved cheating more than 128,000 victims and storing the stolen funds in bitcoin assets."
Chinese woman convicted after 'world's biggest' bitcoin seizure
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0415kk3r…

Chinese woman convicted in UK after 'world's biggest' bitcoin seizure
UK police seized crypto worth over £5bn from Zhimin Qian, who was known as 'the goddess of wealth'.