Real scams, run through 25 years of cybersecurity instinct and a ghostwriter’s eye for a story. Each piece breaks down an actual con I was targeted by or watched unfold: how it worked, where the tell was, and why the same playbook keeps showing up in a new disguise. The $90K overpayment that fell apart over one phone call. The hacked friend who needed money for a flight she never booked. The con man who taught me more than the $3,000 he took. Less a warning list, more a field guide to how manipulation actually operates, and how to spot the next one before it costs you anything.
Scams and ConsTony stole $3,000 from me at 26, and twenty-five years later that con probably saved me thousands more when a Facebook scammer came calling. I thought I understood deception, I had worked in early computer security. Tony taught me otherwise.…
Scams and ConsI have been scammed twice, once by a con who spent a month building trust before springing a $90K overpayment trap, once by a fake businessman harvesting content through paid samples. Both were sophisticated, and both exploited blind spots every…
Scams and ConsThe email looked perfect, professional, polished, a serious ghostwriting project worth $90,000. The scammer spent a full month building trust before the trap sprang: an overpayment scheme designed to leave me $4,000 in the hole. The longer these cons run,…
Scams and ConsThree hours on a review for a fifty dollar prize I did not win. Three months of contests for one fifteen dollar win. The arithmetic on micro-income schemes is worse than it looks.
Scams and ConsIt looked like a dream inquiry: a businessman with fifty years of experience, a $35K budget, a six-month timeline, real-looking credentials, all of it engineered to harvest free writing samples through a fake project. It nearly worked on me. Here…
Scams and ConsThe internet is wall to wall with programs promising millions in a week, and most are case studies in how not to make money online. My first venture with Don Lapre's 900 numbers cost $750 and returned $7.50. Here is…
Scams and ConsMichele paid a ghostwriting agency for a bestseller package and got back something unrecognizable, wrong voice, full of errors, clearly produced by someone who never read her draft. An assembly line, not a ghostwriter. Cheap quotes, stolen bios, and bestseller…
Scams and ConsA name I had not seen in thirteen years appeared in my Facebook messages, an old friend who within a few lines had no money for food. I knew where it was going before she got there, because being scammed…
Scams and ConsHe arrived to service the payment terminals, carrying replacements: our exact model, hacked to skim card data. What stopped him was not a firewall or a scanner. It was a policy simple enough to survive contact with a busy front…
Scams and ConsMost social media audits are about looking professional: clean up the photos, polish the profile. That misses the real risk. Your posts, check-ins, and images are a map for anyone who wants to find you. Here is how to audit…
Scams and ConsI ran a college computer lab and spent two decades as Director of Computer Operations and Technical Services, back when the internet was still finding its shape. Understanding how it works is not about memorizing jargon. Here are ten practical…
Scams and ConsA cybersecurity book helps attackers only if you print the one wrong thing, the working exploit. You can write deeply about how attacks unfold and how to defend against them without ever handing over a usable map. The rule is…
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