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_outlineFraud 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 financial crimes investigator and program manager at The Knoble, Freddie has made it his mission to bridge the gap between institutions and individuals. He shares the heartbreaking and hopeful moments that define his work including one phone call that saved a life. Along with how that experience changed the way he thinks about what true fraud prevention really means.
Freddie also opens up about The Knoble’s Post-Scam Victimization Guide, a collaborative, trauma-informed resource designed to help victims regain control of their lives and prevent re-victimization. From crypto scams to romance cons, he explains how these schemes keep evolving, why empathy is still one of the best tools we have, and how every fraud fighter can make a difference simply by listening and responding with humanity.
Show Notes:
- [00:40] Freddie shares his background as a certified financial crimes investigator and program manager at The Knoble.
- [01:40] A look back at Freddie’s early path into criminal justice and how empathy shaped his fraud-fighting approach.
- [03:07] The story of a Tennessee widow who lost $300,000 in a pig-butchering crypto scam.
- [04:30] Freddie’s emotional account of saving a victim’s life and how it reframed his mission to protect others.
- [07:42] The rise of collaborative fraud-fighter networks and Freddie’s work leading The Knoble’s post-scam initiatives.
- [08:11] How The Knoble unites financial institutions, law enforcement, and NGOs to address “human crime.”
- [08:58] Development of the Post-Scam Victimization Guide, a trauma-informed resource for banks and fraud teams.
- [10:39] How financial crime has evolved from simple check scams to complex digital exploitation and trafficking.
- [13:01] The need for faster, more transparent information sharing between banks and law enforcement.
- [14:04] What makes the Post-Scam Guide different including actionable steps, empathy-driven language, and real-world tools.
- [15:00] Sextortion cases, Gavin’s Law, and how shame and silence compound the harm.
- [18:30] Practical tools in the guide, including hotline numbers, QR codes, and scripts for supporting victims.
- [20:20] How to talk to romance scam victims with compassion including using questions that spark reality checks, not judgment.
- [22:00] Why shame keeps scams underreported and how trauma-informed communication changes outcomes.
- [23:19] The role of technology in scams: remote access, malware, and how scammers exploit smartphones and computers.
- [24:36] Shoutout to Kitboga for his cybersecurity tools and awareness campaigns against scam call centers.
- [25:22] Why elderly victims remain the most vulnerable and how education can empower prevention.
- [27:24] The double victimization cycle like when scammers return pretending to recover lost money.
- [30:00] Freddie’s real-world example of helping a victim secure their accounts and recover identity.
- [32:50] How banks can adjust fraud detection systems to catch hidden patterns of exploitation.
- [34:30] Spotting red flags in gift card purchases and why speaking up can literally save lives.
- [36:31] Freddie’s advice for anyone who suspects they’re being scammed: stop all contact and secure your accounts.
- [37:06] The importance of documenting everything and reporting through IC3.gov and law enforcement.
- [38:30] Emotional recovery and community support are just as vital as financial recovery.
- [41:00] The biggest mistake victims make after being scammed is staying silent out of shame or fear.
- [41:40] Freddie’s story about protecting his own grandmother from IRS and WhatsApp scams.
- [43:00] Common text-message scams and why you should never reply, even with “wrong number.”
- [44:48] How to access The Knoble’s free, vetted Post-Scam Victimization Guide.
- [45:30] Where to connect with Freddie and The Knoble’s wider fraud-fighter network.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.