The Counterfeit Economy
Easy Prey
A counterfeit handbag may leave someone disappointed. A counterfeit medication, airbag, or child’s car seat can do far more damage. Fake products now reach into nearly every part of daily life, and many of them arrive through online stores that look completely legitimate. Kari Kammel saw the danger firsthand when a pharmacist overseas offered her several versions of the same medication. Some were authentic, while others were openly described as counterfeit. That experience stayed with her. She now directs the Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection at Michigan State University,...
info_outline
The Internet is Playing You
Easy Prey
A convincing lie no longer needs to look suspicious. It can appear in a familiar social media feed, come from someone who seems real, or arrive as a video that looks almost impossible to fake. By the time doubt sets in, the post may already have been shared thousands of times. Few people understand that online environment better than today’s guest. Nina Jankowicz has spent more than a decade studying what she calls the bad things that happen on the internet. She is an internationally recognized expert on disinformation and online harassment. She was also named one of Time magazine’s 100...
info_outline
The Psychology of Yes
Easy Prey
It is easy to say you would never fall for a scam when you are looking at the situation from the outside. In the moment, though, things can feel much less obvious. A request may sound reasonable, the person may seem trustworthy, and saying no can feel awkward enough that you go along with something you would normally question. Today’s guest studies exactly why that happens. Vanessa Bohns is the Bronstein Family Professor and Chair of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University’s ILR School. Her work focuses on social influence, compliance, and the pressure people feel to cooperate, even...
info_outline
Drink Spiking
Easy Prey
A drink can be out of your sight for only a moment, but that may be all it takes for someone to tamper with it. Spiking can happen in bars, restaurants, festivals, and even among people who already know and trust each other. It also goes far beyond alcohol. Drinks, food, vapes, cigarettes, and other substances can be altered without someone’s knowledge, leaving them vulnerable before they fully understand what is happening. Dawn Dines has spent more than 20 years working to change how people understand and respond to spiking. She is the founder and CEO of Stamp Out Spiking, a UK charity...
info_outline
Love, Lies and Locked Up
Easy Prey
What sounds like the plot of a crime thriller was Sharon Armstrong’s real life. An online romance drew her into an elaborate web of lies involving overseas contracts, invented emergencies, and several people playing carefully planned roles. By the time she arrived at an airport in Argentina with five kilograms of cocaine hidden inside her suitcase, she still believed she was carrying business documents for the man she loved. Sharon was arrested and spent more than two years in an Argentinian prison before returning home without a conviction. During that time, she had to confront the truth of...
info_outline
The Recruitment Trap
Easy Prey
Everybody is searching for ways to increase income. Unfortunately, MLMs often look like an easy way to start a business without taking on the cost of a traditional company. The pitch sounds simple. Buy the product, follow the plan, and put in the work. The numbers behind those promises often tell a different story. Today’s guest, Stacie Bosley, has spent years studying what really happens inside MLMs. She is a professor at Hamline University in Minnesota and holds a Ph.D. in applied economics. Her research covers multi-level marketing, consumer protection, income claims, and pyramid scheme...
info_outline
Convincing Deepfakes
Easy Prey
A familiar voice on the phone or a recognizable face on a video call used to offer some reassurance that you knew who you were dealing with. AI has changed that. Voice cloning, face swaps, and real-time video impersonation now allow scammers to convincingly pose as executives, job candidates, romantic interests, or even family members. Understanding how these attacks work and where they may be headed is a central part of Tom Cross’s work as Head of Threat Research at GetReal Security. Tom has spent more than 30 years studying cybersecurity threats, software vulnerabilities, and the methods...
info_outline
When Trust Becomes a Trap
Easy Prey
Most people use technology all day without giving much thought to what is happening behind the screen. We trust routers that may not have been updated in years, depend on internet systems few of us understand, and now turn to artificial intelligence for everything from travel plans to home repairs. That convenience comes with tradeoffs. In this episode, we look at the weaknesses built into our connected world and what happens when our technical knowledge fails to keep pace with the technology surrounding us. Sherrod DeGrippo leads threat intelligence for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, where...
info_outline
Scam Compounds
Easy Prey
When most people think about online scams, they picture criminals sitting behind a screen and stealing from victims around the world. But in Southeast Asia, many of the people sending those messages are victims too. Some were promised legitimate jobs, flown across borders, trapped inside guarded compounds, and forced to scam others while trying to survive. In this episode, I talk with Ivan Franceschini, a lecturer in Chinese Studies at the Center for Contemporary Chinese Studies Asia Institute. After years of studying labor rights, civil society, and Chinese investment in Cambodia,...
info_outline
Sports Betting
Easy Prey
Sports betting is everywhere now. It is in the commercials, on the apps, wrapped into game broadcasts, and sold as a fun way to make sports more exciting. But behind the easy sign-ups and “risk-free” offers is an industry built on odds most people do not fully understand, fine print that can cost real money, and a business model that depends on customers losing. In this episode, I talk with Danny Funt, an investigative reporter and the author of Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling. His reporting on sports betting, politics, news, and sports media has appeared...
info_outlineIdentity 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 was gone by morning. What followed wasn't a quick nightmare with a clean ending. It stretched across months, multiple counties, a jail communication system, the dark web, and a wanted fugitive who dyed her hair to look more like the face on a stolen ID. Brooklyn didn't just sit with it. She pulled criminal records, reverse-searched phone numbers, tracked an inmate's transfers across four facilities, identified a suspect on her own, and eventually filed a civil lawsuit without an attorney.
We talk about what it feels like when someone is pretending to be you, not just spending your money, but messaging people as you, signing up for accounts as you, building a life in your name. We also get into the specific steps she took to fight back, the tools she wishes she'd known about sooner, and what recovery actually looks like when the case isn't closed, and the person still hasn't been caught.
Show Notes:
- [1:47] Brooklyn introduces herself as a 25-year-old from Texas with no prior experience in fraud or identity theft.
- [2:13] She describes moving to the DFW area after getting married in June 2024 and being aware of the high rate of car break-ins in the region.
- [3:32] Her car window is smashed overnight, and her work bag is stolen, containing her laptop, wallet, driver's license, and all her cards.
- [4:03] Brooklyn's immediate response is to freeze her credit with all three bureaus and cancel her cards within 10 to 15 minutes.
- [4:57] Despite locking everything down, her cards are maxed out, and a police report is filed with little follow-up from law enforcement.
- [5:12] A period of quiet follows before a letter arrives around Valentine's Day 2025 claiming she rented a U-Haul and never returned it.
- [5:48] Experian alerts her that her driver's license has been found on the dark web, arriving almost simultaneously with the U-Haul letter.
- [7:14] While checking USPS Informed Delivery for a wedding invitation, Brooklyn spots a certified letter from a county jail addressed to her with an inmate's name listed beneath hers.
- [8:28] She contacts the jail and discovers an inmate had listed her as his girlfriend when booked, requesting she pick up his belongings before a prison transfer.
- [9:53] Brooklyn looks up the inmate in the state conviction database and finds a record including identity theft, car burglary, organized crime, and credit card abuse of the elderly.
- [11:58] A jail investigator reveals that the inmate's girlfriend had created an account in Brooklyn's name using her driver's license photo, editing her own appearance to match Brooklyn's features.
- [14:02] Brooklyn traces the same pattern across multiple county jail facilities the inmate passed through, confirming the woman repeated the identity fraud at each one.
- [15:13] A detective confirms the woman has stolen or attempted to use 17 other identities, and that Brooklyn is the only one who has caught on so far.
- [16:52] Four police departments become involved, and Brooklyn begins coordinating with investigators across all of them through a shared email thread.
- [19:22] Pulling her credit report reveals phone numbers tied to the suspect, leading Brooklyn to discover PayPal accounts, Cash App profiles, and a Facebook page created in her name.
- [20:58] Brooklyn uses a PayPal password recovery prompt to identify the first three letters of the suspect's real name.
- [22:03] She requests all jail booking documents containing her name from every county involved and receives text message logs from one department.
- [22:33] Using a birthday and partial name found in the messages, Brooklyn searches mugshots.com and identifies the suspect herself, later getting vague confirmation from investigators.
- [24:38] Chris asks whether the suspect and inmate were in a relationship, and Brooklyn explains they appear to share a child and were trying to manage a custody situation.
- [27:57] Brooklyn investigates whether a Verizon phone number was tied to an account in her name and later finds the suspect's real email embedded in her electricity account profile.
- [29:27] Brooklyn details changing her driver's license four times throughout the ordeal and suspects the woman is using her information for utility accounts to avoid being found.
- [31:02] Two police departments issue arrest warrants for the suspect, but she remains at large and difficult to locate.
- [31:33] Brooklyn files a civil lawsuit on her own without an attorney, drafting the paperwork herself and submitting a known address for the suspect.
- [32:04] She drafts a settlement agreement requiring the suspect to delete all fraudulent accounts, send proof, and return her physical driver's license, emailing it directly to her.
- [33:12] The suspect signs the agreement but does not comply with any of its terms within the deadline Brooklyn set.
- [33:37] Brooklyn files a motion to enforce the settlement agreement, which has since been approved by the court.
- [36:58] Discussion turns to whether the original car break-in was connected to the couple, with Brooklyn expressing frustration that law enforcement never attempted to link the CVS footage to them.
- [38:14] Brooklyn reflects on how the situation became consuming, describing obsessive monitoring of jail systems, court records, and criminal databases at its peak.
- [39:18] She shifts toward healthier monitoring habits, including monthly credit pulls, USPS Informed Delivery checks, and identity protection subscriptions like Aura.
- [40:33] The emotional toll is discussed, including nightmares, anxiety, therapy, and the strange experience of seeing someone try to physically resemble her.
- [43:22] Brooklyn describes seeing light at the end of the tunnel, connecting her recovery to moving out of the area and reclaiming her sense of self.
- [46:13] She reflects on pride in handling most of the case herself and finding closure in knowing the suspect is now aware that Brooklyn knows everything.
- [48:03] Brooklyn expresses empathy for others who may not have the same access to legal knowledge or law enforcement relationships that helped her navigate the process.
- [49:14] Practical tips are shared, including USPS Informed Delivery, e-verify identity freezing, and the IRS identity theft PIN available during tax filing.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.