What are virtual kidnapping scams? Explained 2022

Virtual kidnapping is getting easier as our daily lives are shared online more than ever, and technologies, like deep fake, are getting more advanced. Let’s find out how exactly these scams happen in this explainer. Want more cybersecurity-related explainer videos? CLICK HERE 👉 https://ift.tt/b2JzIpf ❓ What is a Virtual kidnapping? To simplify - a kidnapping hoax is a type of scam where malicious actors call a person and threaten to harm their loved ones if they don't get a specific sum of money for it. While kidnapping is by far the most used form of this scam, every country probably has a few different versions. The malicious actors might try to convince the victims that someone was arrested and needs a bailout, or that they got into a car accident and need money for an urgent operation. 🚫 Evolution of Fake kidnappings! So - how did the Social media kidnapping scam or fake kidnappings evolve? Well, to a point that the FBI at the beginning of 2022 had to issue multiple warnings when more than 400 calls were made trying to trick people. And this is just in the Pitsburg area. Why is it hard to know the real numbers? Well, most of these "Attacks" are either reported just at the local level or not reported entirely, meaning the real scale of this is immeasurable and everyone can be targeted. We know that this originated with a phone scam and just making up stories, let's call it level 1. Remember that crazy time when no one had social media accounts? With the new "share everything about yourself online" movement, malicious actors advanced to level 2 - virtual kidnapping for ransom. Why make things up, when you can just follow a person for a month or so on social media, and know exactly when they do things, who their friends are, and the locations they mostly visit? So if you just upload a photo from a music festival, well, that just might be the signal for the malicious actor to try to scam your parents - remember they know where you are, they probably know who you were with, and while having fun there's a bigger chance you will miss the call… In very recent years, this advanced all the way to level 3 - indistinguishable kidnappings, mainly for two reasons - deep fake phishing and voice cloning technology. With voice cloning, all you need is a sample of the person talking, their Youtube video, a Facebook story, anything you post can be used. So the abductors have your voice now, then all they have to do is collect photos of your face from all the nooks and crannies of the web and use Deep Fake technology to, well, fake your face on another person. Add these together, and the scammers not only know all about you, but they can even pretend to be you… And at this point, no one can be blamed for falling for a scam like this… 🔮 History of Virtual kidnappings! Now, by most sources, this threat originated as a Mexico kidnapping scam, where inmates in prisons would use smuggled phones to call and pretend that something terrible had happened. As you probably understand these attacks were mostly random at first, hitting a large pool of victims and cold calling. While it was harder to scam people a decade ago it also was much harder to check on your family member, we didn’t have so many communication apps or wide internet access every moment. We might assume that with more communication technology this scam died out… but it became even more sophisticated… 🔮 Can you avoid this Scam? So what’s the magical way to protect yourself from these fake scams? Well, there's no one thing… but we've learned that scammers use all the info they can gather on you online to prepare their attacks. So my first advice, be careful when sharing specific details about your life and try to limit sensitive information that is available about you online. I'm not suggesting stopping posting entirely on social media, but make sure that you're aware of what info you're sharing exactly. Second, take your time. if you get a phone call that’s telling you a loved one is kidnaped, don’t panic. First, try to call that person, not only on their phone, but try getting a hold of them through Facebook, Viber, or any other social media that the malicious actors might not have tempered with. If that fails, call friends or family members that might be with that person or know where they are. Realize that these scams work by confusing and stressing you out, so to counter it, stop and analyze the situation… Want to learn more about Virtual Kidnapping? READ HERE 👉 https://ift.tt/XGq8pwO 00:00 Intro 00:51 What is a Virtual kidnapping explained 01:17 History of Virtual kidnappings 02:40 Stages of fake kidnapping scam 03:37 Evolution of Virtual kidnappings 05:33 Can you avoid it? 06:36 Conclusion Keep up to date with the latest news: ➡️ Visit our site https://cybernews.com/ ➡️ Facebook https://ift.tt/rnR0Cpv ➡️ Twitter https://twitter.com/cybernews ​ ➡️ #cybernews #cybernewsexplainer #explained
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