Online Life Lecture
Challenges in Preventing Electronic Fraud in 2023 - Professor Wang Xiaoming Lectured
Excerpts compiled by Tang Jianhua
"Electronic fraud" refers to scammers trying to steal victims' money or personal information through electronic devices such as phone calls, emails or apps.The Federal Trade Commission reported that Americans lost $2022 billion to fraud in 88, a 2021% increase from 30.There are more than 3 million people in the United States, which means everyone loses tens to hundreds of dollars.why?The first is the advancement of technology, and the second is that due to the epidemic since 2020, people have stopped physical contact, and all walks of life are very hard. However, the difficult times have led to the development of online applications, and everyone has gradually become accustomed to meeting, learning, and Shopping, financial transactions, etc. also provide fraud groups with new tools, creating endless opportunities and accelerating the realization of their fraud purposes.According to a research report by the Federal Trade Commission, on average, about one in six Americans has been exposed to electronic fraud.How can we avoid falling victim to electronic fraud?
★Core elements
The tactics of scams usually exploit the weaknesses of human nature. There are two core elements of successful electronic fraud: contact and trust. The routine of "contact" is usually to pretend to be a part of the community, that is, the scammer sneaks into our group and deceives his own people. The "confidence" routine is where the scammer disguises himself as an angel of light to gain the victim's trust.There is a movie "Catch me if you can" based on a true story. A teenager who has not even graduated from high school successfully pretended to be a captain, a doctor and a lawyer. Not only did he forge checks and cash millions of dollars, He also used illegal means to forge his identity and was an out-and-out fraudster. He later reformed and became a fraud prevention consultant for the FBI.
Scams have been around since ancient times because sin has entered the human heart. The Bible is the best-selling book in the world, with a history of at least 4 years. In Chapters 5-6 of Genesis, it records the story of Jacob deceiving his brother Esau. The first time Jacob "While Esau was tired," he exchanged a bowl of red bean soup with his brother, and asked his brother to swear that he would give him the eldest son's rights, easily cheating him into getting the eldest son's rights; the second time, he teamed up with his mother, and Jacob pretended to be the eldest son. Esau's appearance gained the trust of his father Isaac and successfully defrauded him of the blessing that was supposed to be given to Esau.
The development of the Internet allows fraud groups to transcend national borders and roam around like roaring lions, looking for people to devour.They use mobile phones and other electronic devices to send out "convincing" messages through groups, making people who lack vigilance become victims.
★Liar target
So, who is most likely to become a victim?The answer is that common scams seek out unsuspecting victims, and everyone is a potential target.According to research, regardless of gender, age, race, or education level, anyone can become a victim of fraud. However, the victimization rate of senior citizens is three times that of the general population, because senior citizens over the age of 3 are generally I am in the empty nest period and have some savings. I am more polite to strangers and tend to lose my alertness. Once I respond to the information requested by the scammer (Con Artist), I often lose all my money.The tricks commonly used by fraud groups can be divided into two categories:
(1) Get rich quick tricks: Short messages that everyone often receives, such as "You have been specially selected", "Congratulations on winning the prize", "If you buy our products, you will receive a bonus", etc. all fall into this category.Scammers usually do not give victims time to think about their schemes. Victims who want to take the bait "must make up their minds immediately, and the opportunity is only now." Even if the victims have anti-fraud awareness and ask the fraud group to provide more information, they seem to be very reluctant. Willingly agree to lead the victim to a website associated with the scammer, gaining the victim's trust. The famous Ponzi scheme in the early 20th century said that he invented a get-rich-quick method to attract investors to hand over their money. He used the funds of later investors to pay high interest to early investors, and everyone received high interest. I was very happy and invested more money one after another, only to find out that it was a big scam.Today's capital market and rat club can be said to be variations of a Ponzi scheme, so everyone should be careful.
(2) Pretend to be a government agency: Fraudsters do whatever they can to impersonate government agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). They make random calls and if the victim is not paying attention, they will answer the phone. After receiving the call, the scammer will threaten you and say "you have been involved in a crime", including money laundering, tax evasion, etc. Scammers all know some mind-reading skills. From your reply, they will immediately know your weakness and use a series of tricks to put pressure, such as "Then it's too late", "We must cooperate", "Verify your identity", "Your account has been frozen", "We are going to arrest you", etc. They do not give the victim time to think and keep putting pressure on them.A highly educated doctoral researcher, under pressure from a fraud group, nervously remitted money.Even though this case has gone through the cooperation of the local police station and the international police, the remittance has never been recovered. Because of the advancement of e-commerce, once the money is remitted, it can be transferred in and out of the international financial network in a short period of time. It's really hard to recover.
★The latest routine
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has advanced rapidly in recent years, and fraud groups have also used AI's deep fake technology to create fake videos, synthetic videos, audio files, photos, etc. to defraud victims' trust.Recently, scams using AI to change faces or voices have been discovered. Through a recording or a photo, the voice or image of the other person can be faked.How to identify it? The Bureau of Investigation has specially produced a video to remind you that "seeing is not trustworthy." You can currently use the following techniques to detect whether there is a deep fake technology fraud.First of all, AI often cannot be applied to the sides of a person's face and neck, so the side part of the face is blurred, and the color difference between the face and the neck is serious. Secondly, AI models cannot be applied to the face. If the scammer waves his hand in front of the face, There will be a transparency-like effect and cause the face to be distorted.If you receive a video call, you can ask the other party to turn their face away or wave their hands to determine whether the call is using AI face-changing deepfake technology.
In addition, the US FBI has also issued the latest warning to be careful of Beta Test APP routines.Software development requires testing. Generally young people are very happy to participate because they can win a lottery and may receive free software or hardware, or other rewards. Participants must download the application software to be tested (Beta Test APP). The FBI found that the fraud group used poisonous test applications that contained malicious programs that could open a backdoor in the downloader's phone and steal personal information.Nowadays, many people have bank APPs on their mobile phones. Fraudulent groups can use Beta Test APP to transfer all the money in the downloader's account.Therefore, never download apps from unknown sources.
★Stay away from scams
We are all imperfect and have a sinful nature. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Scammers often deceive their victims until they drain them dry.Even if the crime is reported to the police, since the fraud syndicate is often not located in the United States, it is difficult to arrest and prosecute, let alone recover the money defrauded.The loss after being deceived is not only money, but also the feeling of self-blame, which is even more uncomfortable. Why do you think you are so stupid?Monetary losses can be recovered, but the wounds in the heart are difficult to repair. In addition to self-examination, we must also pray for God’s forgiveness and healing.
Thank God, we are sinners saved by the Lord Jesus.Money is all in vain, don’t be greedy for “unearned wealth”. “Do not love money, but be content with what you have, for the Lord has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).The word of the Lord is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.Ask the Lord to give us wisdom to distinguish between true and false, so that every step of our daily life can be walked in the light and we will not fall into the trap of a fraud group.