Elder Exploitation
Easy Prey
Aging parents often rely on the people closest to them for help, but what happens when that help becomes a way to take control? For Charles Wallace, the warning signs started small. His mother’s fridge was suddenly overfilled. A caregiver refused to provide receipts. Spending patterns began to shift in ways that did not make sense. At the time, each concern could be explained away. Looking back, they were part of something much larger. Charles spent 15 years in banking and finance, and after his mother’s death, he used that experience to reconstruct more than 3,000 transactions. What he...
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Art Heists
Easy Prey
The world of art theft looks glamorous in the movies, but the reality is far more complicated. From multi-million dollar forgery schemes to undercover FBI operations recovering stolen national treasures, art crime is a global industry hiding in plain sight. This conversation digs into how these crimes actually play out and why the people who pull them off often end up stuck with the very pieces they thought would make them rich. My guest today is Robert Wittman, a former FBI special agent and the founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team. Over a 20-year career, he worked undercover in more...
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The Power of Prediction
Easy Prey
We make predictions all the time including about the weather, about traffic, about what someone is going to say next. It feels natural, even rational. But when algorithms start making predictions about us, whether we'll repay a loan, reoffend after prison, or respond to a medical treatment, something fundamental shifts. The forecast stops being a guess and starts becoming a verdict. My guest today is Carissa Veliz, a philosopher and associate professor at the University of Oxford, where she also researches at the Oxford Internet Institute. Her work focuses on the ethics of technology, privacy,...
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Privacy vs Reality
Easy Prey
Online security advice often sounds simple until you actually try to follow it. Between password managers, privacy settings, and data brokers, protecting yourself can start to feel like a full-time job. That gap between what sounds easy and what’s actually realistic is where a lot of people get stuck. My guest today is Yael Grauer, a freelance investigative technology reporter who covers privacy, security, digital freedom, hacking, and mass surveillance. She also works as a program manager of cybersecurity research at Consumer Reports, where she manages Security Planner, a free resource that...
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Wired to Trust
Easy Prey
It’s easy to think scams only work when someone misses something obvious. In reality, most of them don’t look obvious at the start. They show up as normal situations with just enough friction to notice, but not enough to stop. That small gap is where people tend to move forward instead of stepping back. My guest today is Tali Sharot, a cognitive neuroscientist who studies how we form beliefs and make decisions. She’s known for her research on the neural basis of human optimism, and her work has been published in leading journals. In her books, The Optimism Bias and The Science of...
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Intimate Partner Fraud
Easy Prey
Most scams leave a digital trail. A fake email, a spoofed number, a fraudulent website. You can trace them, report them, sometimes even reverse them. But what happens when the scam has no digital trail at all, because it isn't happening on a screen? What happens when the con is standing right in front of you, making you laugh, meeting your friends, and planning a future with you? My guest today is Tracy Hall. She's an author, keynote speaker, and senior marketing executive with over 25 years at some of the world's most recognizable tech companies including eBay, Virgin, GoDaddy, and...
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Identity without Passwords
Easy Prey
Every day, employees at hotels, restaurants, and resorts across the country are doing exactly what they were hired to do: being warm, responsive, and eager to help. It's what makes hospitality work. It's also what makes hospitality one of the most targeted industries in cybersecurity. When your entire workforce is trained to say yes, teaching them to be suspicious is an uphill battle. The smarter solution might be to take the target off their backs entirely. Jasson Casey is the co-founder and CEO of Beyond Identity, a company built around one idea: making identity-based attacks impossible....
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When Cybercrime Gets Personal
Easy Prey
Most security breaches don't begin with sophisticated code or elaborate technical exploits. They begin with a phone call, a convincing email, or someone at a help desk who just wanted to be helpful. The human layer is often the weakest link, and the criminals who understand that are the ones causing the most damage. My guest today is May Chen-Contino. She's the CEO of Unit 221B, a threat disruption company that delivers actionable intelligence to enterprises, law enforcement, and government agencies. Her background spans cybersecurity, fintech, and SaaS leadership at companies like PayPal and...
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Stopping Phone Scams
Easy Prey
Phone scams get dismissed as background noise or just annoying interruptions and unknown numbers with robotic voices we learn to ignore. But behind that noise is an industry built on psychology, automation, and staggering profitability. My guest today is Alex Quilici. He’s an engineer, entrepreneur, and the CEO of YouMail, a company focused on protecting consumers and businesses from unwanted and fraudulent calls. Alex has spent years analyzing how robocalls and scam campaigns are designed, how they evolve, and why they continue to work despite better technology and increased awareness. What...
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Stolen Identity - Stolen Peace
Easy Prey
Identity theft gets talked about a lot, but usually in the abstract: freeze your credit, watch your statements, don't click suspicious links. What doesn't get talked about nearly enough is what it actually feels like when someone isn't just using your card number, but is actively living as you. My guest today is Brooklyn Lyons. She's 25, recently married, and by her own admission, had no particular expertise in fraud or cybersecurity before October of 2024. That changed when her car window was smashed in a parking lot, and her work bag, laptop, wallet, driver's license, and everything...
info_outlineThe CDC states that since the Covid-19 pandemic began, one in every three children has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder such as anxiety or ADHD. It is more important than ever to learn how and to teach techniques to help reduce stress and anxiety.
Today’s guest is Dr. Michele Borba. Dr. Borba is an internationally renowned educator and award-winning author of 24 books. She is a motivational speaker having spoken in 19 countries on 5 continents and has served as a consultant to hundreds of schools and corporations like Sesame Street, Harvard, The US Air Force Academy, and the Royal Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. Dr. Borba is an NBC contributor who has been on countless shows including Today, Dateline, Dr. Oz, Anderson Cooper, CNN, and more. Her work is featured in Time, Washington Post, Newsweek, Boston Globe, US News and World Report, and many others.
Show Notes:
- [1:30] - Dr. Borba started her career as a special education teacher and has learned how resilient kids truly are.
- [4:03] - We can’t point the finger at one specific cause. We need to focus on what to do about it.
- [5:07] - Dr. Borba describes a study done over the course of 40 years.
- [6:25] - What are the things we need to teach to help manage anxiety or prevent it?
- [8:35] - Connect with teachers. Kids act differently at school than they do at home.
- [9:33] - Teachers see trends in behaviors in their class.
- [10:16] - A major change in society is that getting mental health services is more acceptable.
- [11:23] - Give kids a range of ideas to help your children.
- [13:12] - When you suggest a hobby, it isn’t a sport or activity that you have to add to the agenda. It is something they choose to do.
- [14:37] - Hobbies, pets, music, etc. can be tools that work for some kids.
- [15:29] - Everyone has a different stress sign.
- [16:18] - Dr. Borba shares a breathing technique great for both kids and adults.
- [18:21] - By learning these strategies, kids can build muscle memory.
- [20:21] - Thrivers have the tools to pull from to deal with stress.
- [21:44] - Your voice and family mantra can become your child’s inner voice.
- [23:00] - Volunteering helps build hope and empathy.
- [25:03] - There are many ways to build empathy but be intentional.
- [26:34] - Teach emotional literacy.
- [27:50] - Many social skills are in dormant mode right now.
- [29:03] - Kids can also feed off the stress of their parents.
- [30:18] - Our society tends to focus on performance which can add levels of stress.
- [33:32] - Kids are becoming ruder and civility needs to be retaught.
- [36:10] - Empathy is a super power and is the glue that holds society together.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.