A story about how anyone (yes, even you) can get scammed

Cory Doctorow is one of the world’s leading technology journalists and activists. Some of his specialties include information security, fraud and technology. He’s written books about these things. But a little while ago, he got scammed. Totally ripped off.

The lesson is an old one: If it can happen to him, it can happen to you. But it’s also bigger than that.

“We have this kind of ageist and often sexist cliché about scam victims that says that it’s little old ladies,” said Doctorow. “Being tricked is partly a matter of being naive, but it’s mostly a matter of just everything lining up so that your own natural defenses get bypassed because a bunch of coincidences occur.“

So how quickly are fraudsters evolving their approaches? What is “swiss-cheese security”? How did one of the internet’s leading experts get duped, and how can you learn from his example?