Sweden's national police authority, Polisen, has launched a campaign called 'Dare to be rude' featuring four Swedish celebrities, aimed at encouraging people—especially the elderly—to be blunt or hang up when they suspect a scam call. Polisen reports fraud losses in Sweden reached 5.7 billion SEK (about $575.3 million), with phone-based scams impersonating banks, agencies or police among the most common tactics used against people over 60.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-24
Microsoft has shut down EvilTokens, a subscription-based cybercrime service sold via Telegram that used AI tools to break into Microsoft accounts and mine stolen inboxes for payment details and business contacts. The company said the service compromised roughly 12,000 accounts across 10,000 organizations by abusing Microsoft's device-code sign-in process, and it seized 50 websites and 150 domains via legal action. UK police separately arrested two men suspected of running the operation.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-23
An anonymous online investigator known as The Profiler has taken up the task of identifying and exposing fraudulent recruitment schemes and fake job postings. The individual works to warn job seekers before they fall victim to scams designed to steal money or personal information.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-22
A banking industry group representing major U.S. banks released a report expressing concern about agentic commerce, where AI agents make purchases on behalf of consumers. The report warns that this emerging shopping method could lead to increased scams, fraud, and payment disputes.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-22
Polymarket's aggressive push for growth reportedly outpaced its fraud controls, creating vulnerabilities that bad actors were able to exploit. The prediction market platform's scaling priorities appear to have left compliance and security measures lagging behind user growth.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-21
A 9-year-old known online as MightyMikePLays67 racked up $118,000 in YouTube ad charges on his father's company credit card while promoting his Minecraft channel. His father Dave lost his job as a result and must repay the bill within 30 days, prompting the family to consider selling their home.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-19
Meta's Threads platform has been flooded with posts using nearly identical wording, in which users claim they and their spouses work at major companies like PepsiCo, JPMorgan, Fidelity, or IBM before pivoting to promote investment advice or opportunities. The repetitive phrasing across accounts suggests coordinated or automated activity rather than genuine personal testimonials.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-18
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has introduced the Streaming Integrity Initiative, a set of five commitments aimed at reducing fraudulent streaming activity. Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group and Merlin are among the first distributors to back the effort, which focuses on verifying identities, vetting content, detecting bad actors and sharing intelligence across platforms. IFPI is now calling on additional distributors to join the initiative.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-14
Paul Kammerer, once hailed as a successor to Darwin, killed himself in 1926 weeks after herpetologist Gladwyn Noble revealed evidence that his celebrated experiment on inherited traits had been faked. The scandal, combined with his flair for public self-promotion and unconventional theories like universal coincidence patterns, led many scientists to dismiss his entire body of work. A century later, new scientific findings suggest some of his underlying questions about heredity may deserve renewed attention.
nature.com
· 2026-09-14
Microsoft researchers uncovered a phishing operation in which an unidentified attacker sent over one million fraudulent emails within three days, each tailored to target accounts payable staff at specific companies. The emails impersonated ServiceNow, demanding nearly $50,000 in fake subscription payments, and included fabricated email threads featuring real executives' names to make the scam appear legitimate.
darkreading.com
· 2026-09-11
A solo developer running Google Ads for his puzzle app Dayzle discovered that of 56 billed installs over two weeks, only 13 were real users; the rest came from devices sideloading outdated app versions while falsely reporting Google Play as the installer. These fake installs showed zero engagement, spanned dozens of phone models across many states, and appeared to be generated by a bot farm gaming Google's install-based ad optimization.
dayzlegame.com
· 2026-09-11
A Big Story investigation from MIT Technology Review, done with Type Investigations, examines how pastor Eli Regalado and his wife launched INDXcoin after claiming divine instruction, raising over $3 million from more than 500 people before the project collapsed within a year with investors losing everything. Separately, the nonprofit Reflective has published a detailed plan outlining the experiments and infrastructure needed to better understand solar geoengineering before any real-world deployment decisions are made.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-09-10
GoKawiil