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 doesn’t always announce itself with obvious warning signs. Quite often, it shows up wrapped inside something that feels routine — a purchase you’ve made before, a link that looks legitimate, a message that arrives at just the wrong moment. Nothing feels suspicious, so your guard stays down. By the time questions start forming, the transaction is already done.
My guest today is Iremar Brayner. He’s spent more than 15 years working in fraud prevention and risk management across payments, retail, ride-hailing, fintech, and digital marketplaces. In his role at G2A, he leads fraud strategy for one of the world’s largest digital entertainment platforms, where speed, approval rates, and loss prevention are constantly pulling against each other.
We discuss why scams continue to work despite smarter tools, how “friendly fraud” complicates the picture, and why digital goods create very different risk patterns than traditional retail. We also get into automation, AI-driven decisions, and what it really looks like to manage fraud in real time.
Show Notes:
- [1:36] Iremar shares how his career in fraud prevention began, moving from bank customer service into reviewing suspicious transactions.
- [2:45] He explains why he completed law school but chose not to become a lawyer, and how legal training shaped his understanding of fraud psychology.
- [4:10] Fraud is framed as an emotional event, with urgency, financial stress, and excitement often lowering a person’s defenses.
- [6:16] Digital marketplaces attract fraudsters due to low-cost items and products like gift cards that are easy to cash out.
- [7:10] The concept of card testing emerges, where stolen payment details are validated through small purchases.
- [8:05] Iremar discusses the rise of friendly fraud, where legitimate customers dispute transactions after receiving goods.
- [9:30] Major product launches, such as highly anticipated game releases, create predictable spikes in fraud risk.
- [11:05] Marketplace fraud requires managing risk on both sides, verifying sellers while monitoring buyers in real time.
- [12:40] He describes G2A’s shift away from manual review toward fully automated transaction decisioning.
- [14:15] The tension between frictionless customer experience and effective fraud prevention is unpacked.
- [16:05] Automation and AI are positioned as essential tools for scaling fraud defenses without overwhelming operations.
- [18:10] AI’s real impact is discussed: not changing fraud itself, but making attacks faster and more scalable.
- [20:05] Iremar explains why human judgment still plays a critical role alongside AI systems.
- [21:41] Fraud patterns differ across industries, illustrated through examples from ride-hailing platforms.
- [23:10] Abuse of referral and incentive programs reveals how self-referrals became a common fraud tactic.
- [24:40] Identity misuse by drivers highlights risks tied to document verification.
- [25:50] Face recognition and customer reporting become tools for detecting account misuse.
- [27:15] High-value luxury marketplaces introduce entirely different fraud and logistics challenges.
- [29:10] Practical consumer advice: buy from reliable sources, review refund policies, and question unrealistic pricing.
- [30:05] Seller protection strategies focus on accurate product descriptions and shipment tracking.
- [32:05] The most common complaints in marketplaces are items not received and items not as described.
- [33:20] Iremar recounts becoming a fraud victim after a fraudulent airline ticket charge.
- [35:00] A WhatsApp impersonation attempt using his photo targeted his mother.
- [36:10] Verification habits are emphasized as one of the strongest defenses against scams.
- [37:40] The risks of social media and account takeover scenarios are discussed.
- [39:30] Challenges around encouraging broader adoption of two-factor authentication.
- [40:05] Career advice for those interested in fraud prevention as a profession.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.