How Hacks Happen

When a scam caller knows everything about you--your address, social security number, bank account--how do they know? There isn't some super powerful hacker ring with its own call center. Your data is…

Let's explore the technology behind audio and music AI, and how it makes use of some cool math concepts to bring us convincing and realistic voices and music. Hear some actual AI-generated tunes, and…

Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht after he served 12 years of his life sentence. In light of this news, we decided to replay our 2023 episode on the Silk Road website, which sold recreational drugs and ot…

AI makes our lives more convenient in so many ways, but it also gives scammers the same conveniences. Host Michele Bousquet explains how scammers use AI audio, video, and text to better fool their vi…

The AI model Deepseek was all over the news in January 2025. Deepseek's developers claimed its costs to develop and run were a fraction of the costs for large popular AI models, which caused a big di…

With so many social security breaches, we return to the original scene of the crime: the Equifax Breach of 2017. Enjoy this replay of one of our most popular episodes, where you'll learn about common…

They're the kinds of cousins you wish you didn't have, but you don't really have a choice. What's the difference between hacks and scams, and how do they work together to part you from your valuables…

In the wake of the devastating California wildfires, conspiracy theories abound, some of them with no basis in fact. Just after her Pasadena home was threatened by the fires, author Su Falcon ran int…

2025 promises to be an exciting year for scammers. From ridiculous job offers to the colorful family of Apple ID scams, join us on a whirlwind tour of schemes designed to part you and your money.

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The Honey tool has been exposed as a scam, after dozens of YouTube influencers heavily promoted it. Honey was supposed to save online shoppers money by finding discount codes, but how could it make m…

Romance scams aren't the only goals of a catfish. The catfish needs some way to get all that money delivered into their hands without leaving a trail. To accomplish this, they recruit unwitting victi…

How do catfish convince victims to send money? In this second of a three-part series on catfishing, we look at the many tricks romance scammers use to separate victims from their hearts, and their ca…

Catfishing scams have reached new heights, particularly romance scams. But how do they get away with it? This first of a three-part series on catfishing explores the techniques these scammers use to …

Hackers have been releasing password leaks for years. But what exactly is a password leak, and should you be concerned? In this episode of How Hacks Happen, we look at how password security has chang…

With Netflix shining attention on the victims of the 2015 Ashley Madison breach, we're running a replay of our own coverage from 2021 that gets into the dark underbelly that Netflix skipped: lies Ash…

The medical records of 1/3 of Americans were stolen from Change Healthcare in February 2024, and leaked to the dark web. So who is Change Healthcare, and why did they have your data in the first plac…

Credit card fraud is on the rise, but not in the usual way: hackers are cobbling together synthetic accounts from real and fake names, addresses, social security numbers, and credit histories. Childr…

QR codes are a super convenient way to access a website or app from your phone without having to type anything in. And while some scammers use QR codes to try and steal your personal information and …

How can you keep hackers from getting your Social Security Number? You can't. Between breaches of Equifax, the healthcare industry, and the recent National Public Data leak, your SSN is probably alre…

A new bank regulation in the United Kingdom promises refunds to customers who are victims of fraud through bank transfers. We'll likely see the same regulations in other countries soon, and it will l…