loader from loading.io

Human Side of Fraud: Empathy, Education, & Evolution

Easy Prey

Release Date: 06/25/2025

Past, Present, and Future of AI agents show art Past, Present, and Future of AI agents

Easy Prey

The intersection of AI and cybersecurity is changing faster than anyone expected, and that pace is creating both incredible innovation and brand-new risks we’re only beginning to understand. From deepfake ads that fool even seasoned security professionals to autonomous agents capable of acting on our behalf, the threat landscape looks very different than it did even a year ago. To explore what this evolution means for everyday people and for enterprises trying to keep up, I’m joined by Chris Kirschke, Field CISO at Tuskira and a security leader with more than two decades of experience...

info_outline
You Are Traceable with OSINT show art You Are Traceable with OSINT

Easy Prey

Publicly available data can paint a much clearer picture of our lives than most of us realize, and this episode takes a deeper look at how those tiny digital breadcrumbs like photos, records, searches, even the background of a Zoom call can be pieced together to reveal far more than we ever intended. To help break this down, I’m joined by Cynthia Hetherington, Founder and CEO of The Hetherington Group, a longtime leader in open-source intelligence. She also founded Osmosis, the global association and conference for OSINT professionals, and she oversees OSINT Academy, where her team trains...

info_outline
Anyone Could Walk In show art Anyone Could Walk In

Easy Prey

Sometimes we forget how much trust we place in the little things around us like a lock on a door or a badge on someone’s shirt. We see those symbols and assume everything behind them is safe, but it doesn’t always work that way. A person with enough confidence, or the right story, can slip through places we think are locked down tight, and most of us never notice it’s happening. My guest today is Deviant Ollam, and he’s one of the rare people who gets invited to break into buildings on purpose. He talks about how he fell into this unusual line of work, the odd moments that shaped his...

info_outline
The Scam You Never See Coming show art The Scam You Never See Coming

Easy Prey

Fraud today doesn’t feel anything like it used to. It’s not just about somebody skimming a credit card at a gas pump or stealing a check out of the mail. It has gotten personal, messy, emotional. Scammers are building relationships, earning trust, and studying the little details of our lives so they can strike when we’re tired, distracted, or dealing with something big. And honestly, most people have no idea how far it’s gone. My guest, Ian Mitchell, has spent more than 25 years fighting fraud around the world and leading teams in the financial sector. He’s the founder of The Knoble,...

info_outline
Hacking AI show art Hacking AI

Easy Prey

AI has brought incredible new capabilities into everyday technology, but it’s also creating security challenges that most people haven’t fully wrapped their heads around yet. As these systems become more capable and more deeply connected to the tools and data we rely on, the risks become harder to predict and much more complicated to manage. My guest today is Rich Smith, who leads offensive research at MindGard and has spent more than twenty years working on the front lines of cybersecurity. Rich has held leadership roles at organizations like Crash Override, Gemini, Duo Security, Cisco,...

info_outline
The Ransomware War show art The Ransomware War

Easy Prey

Ransomware isn’t a lone hacker in a hoodie. It’s an entire criminal industry complete with developers, brokers, and money launderers working together like a dark tech startup. And while these groups constantly evolve, so do the tools and partnerships aimed at stopping them before they strike.  My guest today is Cynthia Kaiser, former Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber Division and now the Head of the Ransomware Research Center at Halcyon. After two decades investigating global cyber threats and briefing top government leaders, she’s now focused on prevention and building...

info_outline
Opportunistic Crimes show art Opportunistic Crimes

Easy Prey

Criminals are always adapting. Whether it’s copper wiring stripped from job sites or porch pirates grabbing deliveries in broad daylight, they keep finding new ways to take what isn’t theirs. But maybe prevention isn’t about harsher punishment or more cameras. Maybe it’s about smarter design and understanding what drives people to steal in the first place. My guest today is Dr. Ben Stickle, a professor of criminal justice at Middle Tennessee State University and one of the country’s top researchers on property crime. Before entering academia, he worked in law enforcement, which gives...

info_outline
Post Scam Guidebook show art Post Scam Guidebook

Easy Prey

Fraud usually gets talked about in numbers like how much money was stolen, how many people were affected, how many cases got filed. But behind every one of those numbers is a person who’s been blindsided, manipulated, or left trying to rebuild trust in others and in themselves. This episode shifts the focus back to those human stories and the fight to protect them. My guest, Freddie Massimi, has spent more than a decade helping scam victims find both financial and emotional recovery, bringing empathy and understanding to a field that too often feels cold and procedural. As a certified...

info_outline
Can You Trust Anything Online show art Can You Trust Anything Online

Easy Prey

You think you’d never fall for a scam until you meet someone like Kitboga. He’s a software engineer who’s turned his curiosity about online fraud into a full-time mission to outsmart scammers and protect the people they target. His YouTube channel, The Kitboga Show, has millions of followers and nearly a billion views, thanks to his mix of humor, empathy, and clever ways of exposing how scams really work. In our conversation, Kit opens up about how this all started, what it’s really like to spend hours pretending to be a scam victim, and how organized crime has turned fraud into a...

info_outline
Real Time Fraud Detection show art Real Time Fraud Detection

Easy Prey

Everywhere you turn, someone’s trying to fake something like an image, a voice, or even an entire identity. With AI tools now in almost anyone’s hands, it takes minutes, not days, to create a convincing fake. That’s changed the game for both sides. The fraudsters have new weapons, and the rest of us are scrambling to keep up. The real question now isn’t just how to stop scams, but how to know who or what to trust online. My guest today, Bala Kumar, spends his days on the front lines of that battle. He’s the Chief Product and Technology Officer at Jumio, a company working to make...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

People used to think fraud was something that happened in the shadows, rare, distant, and mostly affecting big companies. But after talking to PJ Rohall, it’s clear that fraud is evolving fast, and it’s showing up in places most of us don’t even think to look.

In this episode, I sit down with PJ Rohall, Head of Fraud Strategy and Education at SEON and co-founder of About Fraud. PJ’s work is all about staying ahead of scammers and helping businesses and individuals understand how fraud actually works. From synthetic identities and AI-powered scams to account takeovers and refund fraud, he breaks it all down in a way that’s both eye-opening and surprisingly accessible.

We talk about how fraudsters think, what makes people vulnerable, and why collaboration is one of the best defenses we have. PJ shares practical tips, real-world examples, and some of the patterns he’s seeing that everyone should be aware of. Whether you run a business or just want to better protect yourself online, this conversation might change the way you think about trust, technology, and the digital world we live in.

Show Notes:

  • [00:52] PJ Rohal is a co-founder of About Fraud and Fraud Fight Club, which is our in conference, in-person experience. He started that back in 2017, but his fraud prevention journey started back in 2011.
  • [02:45] He began studying finance and business. He had some mental health issues and was open to trying something different when he saw a job for a fraud analyst.
  • [06:22] His experience transferred really well into the entrepreneurial journey.
  • [11:13] It's in the best interest of everyone to collaborate and share tips and tricks when trying to prevent fraud.
  • [13:05] Everybody is open or vulnerable to being a victim of a scam. There shouldn't be a stigma around it.
  • [14:51] It's powerful to see even tech savvy people being victims of scams.
  • [17:20] How a contextually relevant scam could actually get you.
  • [21:16] It's PJ's dream to get outside of his bubble and help educate the community the best he can.
  • [23:43] Two-factor authentication codes have changed, because they give warnings and instructions for the consumer now.
  • [28:45] People with platforms could get the word out about the risk of scams.
  • [34:30] Getting fighting scams to the front and center is a challenge.
  • [36:57] Handling calls from people who've lost large amounts of money in a scam. Having a psychologist or people who understand human behavior would really help with this journey.
  • [40:39] Banks and financial institutions are starting to think differently about handling these issues.
  • [41:05] There's also a lot of technology on the market that's designed for scams.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review. 

Links and Resources: