Scammers use your videos for deepfakes

This episode discusses the risks and implications of personal videos being exploited for deepfake technology by scammers.

1. Deepfakes are being used to create fake endorsements and scams.
2. Scammers exploit social media content to create convincing deepfakes.
3. There's a lack of sufficient legal protection against digital impersonation.
4. Awareness and personal digital security can mitigate some risks.
5. It's important to understand and manage your digital footprint.

1: Understanding Deepfakes

Scammers are stealing personal videos to create deepfakes, using these for fraudulent ads and scams.

• Kim Komando: "Scammers are taking videos from social media and manipulating them."
• Andrew Babinski: "The quality of deepfakes has reached a point where it's hard to distinguish real from fake."

2: The Legal Landscape

Discussion on the existing and emerging laws targeting deepfake technology and digital impersonation.

• Kim Komando: "We need stronger laws to combat these deepfake scams."
• Andrew Babinski: "Some states are starting to put laws on the books concerning artificial intelligence."

3: Personal Security Measures

Tips on how to protect oneself from becoming a victim of deepfake scams.

• Kim Komando: "Be cautious of what you share online; every post can be misused."
• Andrew Babinski: "Updating privacy settings regularly can help protect your videos from being misused."

1. Regularly Update Privacy Settings: Ensure social media profiles are set to private and periodically check privacy settings to avoid unauthorized use of your content.
2. Educate Yourself on Deepfake Technology: Understanding how deepfakes are created and spread can help you better identify potential scams.
3. Secure Your Digital Footprint: Be cautious about what personal content you share online, especially on public platforms.
4. Use Watermarks on Personal Content: Adding watermarks can deter scammers from using your content for deepfakes.
5. Monitor Your Digital Presence: Regularly search for your name and content online to ensure it isn't being used without your permission.

Plus, an interview with a a guy who lost big money to fake investments — and he's smart, folks! It could happen to anyone.

People

Kim Komando, Andrew Babinski

Content Warnings:

None

Speaker A
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Speaker B
Hey, it's Memorial Day. It's the big holiday. And while you're enjoying your barbecue, relaxing with friends and family, I'd like you to say a silent thank you. While you think about those who made all of this possible, remember their stories and honor their memories. And if you can help keep their legacies alive, talk to your kids about what Memorial Day really means. And since it is a national holiday, me and the gang were taken off. So here's a show that I think you're really going to enjoy. Starbathing?

Speaker C
Yes.

Speaker B
What is it?

Speaker C
No idea. Never even heard of it.

Speaker B
Starbathing. Make a guess.

Speaker C
All right. Taking a bath with Kim Kardashian. Starbathing.

Speaker B
Wouldn't you love that?

Speaker C
Absolutely. A bath, a shower, just washing hands together. Don't take any of it.

Speaker B
Taking her trash out.

Speaker C
Exactly.

Speaker B
Doesn't matter what it is. You know, she looks a lot different than she did 15 years ago.

Speaker C
She doesn't look like the same human.

Speaker B
No.

Speaker C
It's shocking when, like, you know, she breaks the Internet with a new picture. I'm like, who is that? None of them do. No, Kylie, none of them look the same.

Speaker B
She was not a pretty teenager.

Speaker C
Okay? I'm not gonna go that far.

Speaker B
Okay. But, I mean. But now she's stunning.

Speaker C
Well, yeah, but there's a lot of people who are, you know, ugly ducklings, and then they mature into beautiful swans like me.

Speaker B
A lot of people star bathing.

Speaker C
What is it?

Speaker B
You go camping?

Speaker C
Sure.

Speaker B
Hip camp is, they say, like, this is the new trend. So people, they're going online, and they're saying, we want to be able to camp and see the stars. So now it's called star bathing.

Speaker C
That's always been camping.

Speaker B
So you're bathing in the stars, but.

Speaker C
You'Ve always gone camping to see the stars?

Speaker B
It has a nice term to it. Oh, okay, camping. Did you ever camp?

Speaker C
Yeah, I'm camping this summer. I camped last summer.

Speaker B
Really?

Speaker C
Like, true camping.

Speaker B
Camping, like, you go poop in the woods?

Speaker C
Well, no, there. That's a campsite, so there is plumbing. But, yes, it's true camping. Camping. Sleeping on the ground in a tent for a week.

Speaker B
You know, I used to go camping as a kid.

Speaker C
And what happened? You got money?

Speaker B
No. Oh, there is that. No. You know, with my mom and dad and my brother and my sisters and, you know, thinking about it now, it was a good time. Sometimes I get sentimental talking about it.

Speaker C
I'm sure.

Speaker B
But I just have to remember it's like, past tense.

Speaker C
Oh, dumb. I can tell. Every time you're ramping up. You really get me. When you have the sniper, the ones out of nowhere. But this one was a lot of hand movements.

Speaker B
It was a long way to go for a glass of water. Get it? Past tense.

Speaker C
I got it.

Speaker B
All right. Want me to do it again?

Speaker C
No.

Speaker B
Okay. On that happy note, welcome. It's Kim Commando. Today it's your podcast about all things digital. And this is not the Kim Commando show.

Speaker C
No.

Speaker B
Because people are saying, like, well, where's the show? Okay. The show is Kim Commando show. That's the award winning big show that's on hundreds and 500 thousands of radio stations and millions of people listen.

Speaker C
Sure.

Speaker B
And then this is Kim Commando today, where it's you and me and a couple of other people.

Speaker C
Not the best sales job you're doing right now for the podcast.

Speaker B
So I'm just saying, if you want the show, you have to search for Kim Commando's show.

Speaker C
That's a separate podcast. If you don't find it on the weekends when it's airing, like you said, on 500 different stations, there is a separate podcast that has the whole show.

Speaker B
Exactly. Now, this is a little bit different. Cause we get to interview people, and you and I chit chat.

Speaker C
Right.

Speaker B
What do you got coming up?

Speaker C
We finally have a state in the union that is putting on the books. Laws on the books when it comes to artificial intelligence.

Speaker B
What are they hoping to do with this law?

Speaker C
Help the consumer, the government, helping the people.

Speaker B
You're getting a little angry at that.

Speaker C
Oh, I'm very. I'm very happy, and I hope it spreads nationwide.

Speaker B
And, of course, I didn't introduce you.

Speaker C
No.

Speaker B
This is Adam.

Speaker C
One guy calls me Adam, and now it's my nickname. I am Andrew Babinski.

Speaker B
Yes. Like, nice, fine irishman.

Speaker C
Very irish.

Speaker B
Like, comment.

Speaker C
Share every day. I was actually watching a live podcast on the Internet this week on Thursday, and I went, this is really cool. And I clicked the share button, and I sent it to someone.

Speaker B
Oh, nice.

Speaker C
And that's what you. You guys can do, right? If you say, I'm sitting here, and I know Kim describes this as the lesser show, but it's still great.

Speaker B
It's a great show.

Speaker C
I can send it to someone by just commenting on the podcast, whether we're watching on Facebook or YouTube, you can share it with someone and always hit the follow button. Cause we always know when we're starting.

Speaker B
All right, so we have a great interview coming up. Guy who, like, lost thousands of dollars in an investment scam. We're gonna be talking about that. But first, you know, what comes first?

Speaker C
Is it three things?

Speaker B
Five.

Speaker C
Oh, five things?

Speaker B
Yes. Five top things that you need to know. It's happening in tech right now.

Speaker C
Go.

Speaker B
Okay. Scammers are going online, and they are just looking for regular people's Instagram accounts, TikToks, whatever it may be. And then they're stealing those videos to sell products.

Speaker C
Well, that happens all the time.

Speaker B
Well, they're putting audio behind it. And so, like, this one woman, they deep faked her voice using her video, and she's actually talking about Ed, and she's saying, like, you know, this medication has made my life so much better.

Speaker C
I actually saw her. She did a reaction video to seeing herself sell these videos. Yeah. And she was, first of all, she was confused because she knew she didn't make that. Then she was. Thought it was crazy that the quality was so good.

Speaker B
Right.

Speaker C
And then she felt so violated that all they needed was one long form video of her sitting there on her TikTok. And they turn it. Can turn it into whatever they want.

Speaker B
I mean, yeah. I mean, seriously, talk about a nightmare that lasts longer than 4 hours.

Speaker C
That was a sniper. That was a good one.

Speaker B
That's a good one. Speaking of scammers, fake solar safe glasses are popping up everywhere.

Speaker C
Of course they are. Cause the solar eclipse is happening, and everybody's trying to make a quick buck.

Speaker B
So you need to make sure that they have a number. Do you know what the number is?

Speaker C
867-5309 no, that's Jenny's.

Speaker B
It's ISO 123122.

Speaker C
Can't they just put that on the fake glasses?

Speaker B
Of course they can. Just. But I just want to put it out there. Now, if you're on Amazon, make sure that you buy from a bona fide seller.

Speaker C
Correct.

Speaker B
Okay. Not from, like, Joe's solar sunglass hut.

Speaker C
If it's 40% cheaper, 50% cheaper. Odds are you are not getting NASA approved eclipse glass.

Speaker B
Not at all. Okay. Keep palm and pay on.

Speaker C
What is that?

Speaker B
Remember, like, keep calm and carry on.

Speaker C
Oh, okay.

Speaker B
Now, I came up with my own version.

Speaker C
Is that keep palm and pay on?

Speaker B
Yes.

Speaker C
We're putting chips in our hands so we can pay for things.

Speaker B
Amazon one has a brand new iOS and Android app. And so that this way when you go to Panera, whole foods, they say over 150 other stores that instead of you like, taking your phone to tap and pay, right. That now you go, here I am.

Speaker C
What is the elect, what is the technology with my palm that's completing the transaction?

Speaker B
It's going to. Well, the palm is tied to your credit card.

Speaker C
Is there going to be a chip in my hand? No, no, just my palm.

Speaker B
Just your palm?

Speaker C
The palm reading?

Speaker B
Yes.

Speaker C
Like a fingerprint.

Speaker B
Exactly.

Speaker D
Okay.

Speaker B
But now it's your palm. How do you feel about that?

Speaker C
I don't mind it. I mean, they scan my face every single day on my phone. We do fingerprints all the time. It's just another way of doing it. I know. I really don't have an issue with that.

Speaker B
A lot of people are freaked out. Cause they're saying, like, this is my palm print, and somebody's gonna steal my palm print.

Speaker C
Well, this is your face print. And if they wanted to steal your face print, they could use it to access your things as well.

Speaker B
Do you know, do you remember that psychic lady we had on?

Speaker C
Yeah.

Speaker B
She read my palm.

Speaker C
Yeah? What'd she say?

Speaker B
Um, she said that I'm gonna have a long life.

Speaker C
That's good.

Speaker B
As long as I eat healthy and exercise.

Speaker C
That's all people on this planet.

Speaker B
It was special for me.

Speaker C
What's on your palm that says that?

Speaker B
I don't know.

Speaker C
That's everybody.

Speaker B
It's like the hand and this other thing. And then she said that I. That I really did well financially in my life.

Speaker C
You did well. It's not that it's gonna happen. It already happened. She's a past reader.

Speaker B
Yes. She said that.

Speaker C
I think you're gonna have one child. It'll be a boy. Yes. Wow. I see it. Yeah. Cause you went on an instagram page.

Speaker B
Okay, there is that. You know, last time we were at the airport. This is coming at number four.

Speaker C
Uh huh.

Speaker B
Do you know how, like, people in wheelchairs, when they need to get on the plane, they go first? Right?

Speaker C
Yeah.

Speaker B
Okay. Of course. Because they're going to take extra time to go down the driveway and get into the space.

Speaker C
They need the space and the room.

Speaker B
But the problem is, is that the people who deal with wheelchairs, there's a really bad staffing shortage on airports all throughout the country.

Speaker C
Okay.

Speaker B
So isn't that whole business?

Speaker C
Geez, it seems like everybody can't find anybody.

Speaker B
There's that. You know, we're hiring, too, by the way, in case anybody's watching. We are hiring.

Speaker C
No, you excluded.

Speaker B
What do you mean?

Speaker C
You're not excluded from that. You need people as well.

Speaker B
I thought you were saying, like, you were looking for my replacement.

Speaker C
No, no, no.

Speaker B
You know, something along those lines.

Speaker C
But if you are looking for a part time job, it sounds like there's openings at the airport. Kim.

Speaker B
Yes. So there's a japanese company by the name of whirl. This is really amazing.

Speaker C
Okay.

Speaker B
Okay. So let's say you need a wheelchair to take you to the gate. So you go to check in your luggage. Okay. Then they're going to give you a robotic wheelchair.

Speaker C
So, like, waymo wheelchair?

Speaker B
Yes.

Speaker C
That's really cool.

Speaker B
It's actually very cool. And so you just. So you sit down. I saw. I watched a little demo of it. Sit down. And then there's obviously, there's a screen and you just touch. This is your flight and this is the gate because it's all automatic and updated in real time. So you just say that. And then there's a place in the back for you to put your carry on bag.

Speaker C
Okay.

Speaker B
Okay. And then it goes. It goes up to TSA.

Speaker C
Does it go through that line?

Speaker B
Yes.

Speaker C
It navigates that whole corkscrewed line.

Speaker B
Yes. Okay. And then it takes you to the gate.

Speaker C
That's so cool.

Speaker B
And then if there's somebody, like, walking in front of you, it goes. It goes, ding, ding.

Speaker C
No.

Speaker E
Honk.

Speaker B
No. It should be. Yeah, I was thinking that should be like an old hug, like from an old Ford or something. You know what? Maybe there's an app for that that we could just, like, sell to people, like if they're in the wheelchair to update it. Yes. Be like an upsell. You get the wheelchair for free. But if you want the custom horn package.

Speaker C
Right. If you want to tick people off. That is so neat.

Speaker B
It's going to launch in Los Angeles and Miami on American Airlines.

Speaker C
Here's the question, though. This is going to replace jobs. I know people aren't filling the jobs, but once it becomes commonplace and cheap enough, it's going to replace all those people.

Speaker B
But so smart. I mean, nothing. You can replace me, but it's just so smart waiting for somebody and.

Speaker C
Right. That's true. It's going to be fast.

Speaker B
It will. I think it's going to be great. We've talked about it here on the show. This coming in finally at number five. The guy's name is Noland Arbao. He's here in Arizona. Phoenix, Arizona. And he is the gentleman who got the first Norlink implant.

Speaker C
Yes.

Speaker B
Okay. He's played chess. He pulled an all nighter playing civilizations.

Speaker C
Oh, that's cool.

Speaker B
Okay. He's paralyzed, by the way, from a diving accident from the neck down. And so he got. And so if you're just. You're not familiar with what we're talking about, it's. Norlink is Elon Musk company, and he got the brain implant, and now he can send and receive text messages, and he just has this whole new lease.

Speaker C
On life all by thinking it correct.

Speaker B
Which is really, truly amazing. Now, the reason why I'm bringing this up is that it just came out in the news that six months ago, Nolan had no idea about Norlink. Had no idea that it even existed.

Speaker C
I didn't know anything.

Speaker B
Okay, I did, but that's okay. But he had no idea it existed. So it's six months ago, he's sitting there, and he gets his phone rings, and he had it on auto answer by just using his voice. And his buddy, who's a biology major at a neuroscience lab at a nearby university, calls them up and says, hey, dude, just wanna let you know that there's, like, this neuralink thing, and it's put by musk. You ought to, like, so apply for this. And then Nolan says, are you drunk? To his friend. A friend goes, uh, yeah, I just had some beers. And. And it's like, I know it's noon o'clock, but, uh. So how he found out about it was some of his. One of his buddies who was drunk at noon called him to tell him to apply for it.

Speaker C
It's the Cinderella story. It's fairy tale.

Speaker B
I think we have some videos of him actually using it.

Rob Tannenbaum
I'd like to introduce you to the first ever user of the neuralink device.

Speaker E
Yeah, my name's Nolan Arbaugh. I'm 29 years old.

Rob Tannenbaum
Do you want to explain a little bit what's going on here?

Speaker E
Yeah. So, I love playing chess. And so this is one of the things that y'all have enabled me to do something that I wasn't able to really do much the last few years, especially not like this. I had to use, like, a mouth stick and stuff. But now it's all. It's all being done with my brain. If y'all can see the cursor moving around the screen, that's. That's all me. Y'all, um. It's pretty cool, huh?

Speaker C
I want to know what. What the learning curve is, right? Cause what do you mean? You know how to think, but do you have to think about grabbing the cursor? And moving it? Or is it just think about the cursor moving and the cursor moves?

Speaker B
You know, that's a really good question. I don't know what that answer is. I think that you'd probably have to say move. That.

Speaker C
You have to have that conscious thought.

Speaker B
Yes, I think that I would. I would. Until you can program it.

Speaker C
Mm hmm.

Speaker B
And remember, this is like the first iPhone. Right. First instance.

Speaker C
But if it. I mean, just with the example of chess, if you want to move the pawn up two spaces, do you just think about that pawn moving up, or do you have to think, I'm grabbing the pawn, and now I'm moving the pawn two spaces. Now I'm letting the pawn.

Speaker B
I think you probably have to grab the pawn.

Speaker C
Okay.

Speaker B
That's what I would guess, but I could be totally wrong.

Speaker C
I wonder. Maybe we can try and get someone on who knows how the software works and the technology works. Cause I'm really curious about that.

Speaker B
Mads, that'd be you.

Speaker C
Yeah. Get on.

Speaker D
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Speaker B
Hey, it's Kim commando today. Don't forget to, like, comment, share. Like, comment, comment, share.

Speaker C
Easy.

Speaker B
That's all. And if you are listening to the audio version of the podcast, we totally love that. And you might be saying, like, well, what's going on with the video? Well, you can actually watch us do the podcast Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And we love that you're doing that. And we have, like, millions and millions of people who are watching this.

Speaker C
No, thousands.

Speaker B
Okay. Tens of thousands.

Speaker C
Yes. We're slowly getting.

Speaker B
That's true.

Speaker C
We are slowly to 100,000. And then, you know, we'll build from there.

Speaker B
Is Jennifer still watching?

Speaker C
Of course. Every day.

Speaker B
Okay, good.

Speaker C
And even if she misses the live, guess what she does? Watches it on a replay.

Speaker B
Does she?

Speaker C
On YouTube? She says she's tried every format. YouTube's the best way to watch the show.

Speaker B
Okay, so we want everybody to be like Jennifer.

Speaker C
Yes. Cause YouTube is the way we can monetize the post.

Speaker B
And, you know, but I think she might be wondering, like, well, who is Jennifer. Jennifer is Andrew's current girlfriend.

Speaker C
Current.

Speaker B
Current girlfriend. I still can't believe he called my current girlfriend.

Speaker C
We don't have to focus on that. Bring it up again. Cause then I hear about it every single time.

Speaker B
Well, that was bad. Yeah, that was bad.

Speaker C
It was. It was just a misspeak. A misspeak that gets you in tons and tons of trouble.

Speaker B
Oh, my gosh. It's awful. It's awful. Well, you know, but she's. But, you know, she took you back. Yeah, that's important.

Speaker C
You know, but you're not helping.

Speaker B
No, no.

Speaker C
On a scale of one to ten, in the help department, you're a one.

Speaker B
This is like when those people, they drop me notes and say, are you guys sure you're not brother and sister? Because it's like mom loves me more. Mom, I know you are, but what am I exactly? All right, so we're gonna speak with a gentleman by the name of Ron Townenbaum. Yes, because he got ripped off.

Speaker C
Yeah, his story's crazy.

Speaker B
Yeah, he's gonna tell us how it happened. Tannenbaum. Otananbaum.

Speaker C
Your bank account was taken by the Nigerians.

Rob Tannenbaum
They were probably. It's more likely that they were russian.

Speaker C
Oh, okay. We can do a re. We'll do a remix later and throw in the Russians.

Rob Tannenbaum
So if you're going to do a remix, my name's Rob, not Ron.

Speaker B
Sorry.

Rob Tannenbaum
You know, it happens a lot. It's all the n's in my last name. Oh, we're like 14 n's in my last name.

Speaker C
So, yeah, we just take them from the last name and we throw them in the first name.

Speaker B
So joining us is Adam Tannenbaum.

Speaker C
Yes.

Speaker B
Joining us is Rob Tannenbaum. And he's gonna rob. You're gonna tell us all about how you got scammed so that this way we don't get scammed, too. Now, first of all, you know, I read about you're a pretty smart guy ish.

Speaker C
I mean, you're no dummy.

Speaker B
Exactly.

Rob Tannenbaum
I'm smart adjacent.

Speaker C
And all of this, I mean, whatever, all these things that were stolen and hacked from you, this really wasn't your fault at all because someone else responded to an email. Right.

Rob Tannenbaum
Well, I made one key mistake, which I'll get to in a minute because I don't want to tell the end of the story for the beginning.

Speaker B
Yeah, I was just going to say that. Let's so start from the beginning.

Rob Tannenbaum
Walk us through it like everyone. A couple times a year I get an email that says, hey, our database was hacked. We're really sorry. Here's two days free of credit monitoring on us. And I knew that a password that I'd been using since the nineties was on the dark web. And systematically, over a period of time, I would replace that password, and there didn't seem to be any problem. I started to notice some unusual activity last summer. One thing was I got more than the usual number of password reset texts.

Speaker B
Okay.

Rob Tannenbaum
I also had fraud on a credit card. And then the next day, fraud on a second credit card. That, you know, I don't know what your experience has been, but the shelf life these days of a credit card is anywhere from nine to 18 months. Sure, because your numbers are going to get stolen and you got to change your credit card. So that wasn't so unusual. The two unusual things. First of all, I woke up one morning and there was a text message, an automatic notification that my investment advisor had replied to my email, but I hadn't emailed him. So I logged into my account and I saw a message from me, the person pretending to be me, asking to transfer money out of my account and into a different account the next thing. So we secured my account, and I sort of thought that that was the end of it. But then my Citibank checking account also had fraud and that had to be closed. I went online to order something from Amazon, and I was locked out of my account. So I called customer service to find out what was going on. And I was fortunate that I spoke to someone who was very smart, and he said, well, your account is locked because of repeated violations of terms of service.

Speaker B
Okay.

Rob Tannenbaum
I said, I haven't gotten any emails about that. He said, we've been emailing you, so you should look in your email archive folder and see what's there. What the hackers had done was hack my email account and set up two filters so that any message from my investment bank, or I say, my investment bank, like I own an investment bank, a message from them, yeah, thanks, Adam. Or from Amazon, would go straight into the archive folder and I would never see it.

Speaker B
Wow, that's smart. That's smart.

Rob Tannenbaum
That was pretty ingenious. And most of my money, not that I have much like 18 of my $20 in savings, is in this investment account. So we secured that, and I thought, okay, that's the end of it. I changed my username, I changed my password. About three days later, I got a call from the investment advisor who said, they just accessed your account again. So how was it possible that they knew my new username? And my new password, what I eventually figured out was they had hacked my password manager. So the central mistake I made when I went and changed the passwords on all my different e commerce and banking accounts, I didn't change it on my password manager. Because whoever thinks that hackers are going to try to access your password manager.

Speaker C
How would they even know the password managers, they. That's what they boast. They boast their security and that you use a password manager so you'll be secure.

Speaker B
Now, you know, it seems like. It seems like lastpass gets hacked a lot. Which one were you using?

Rob Tannenbaum
I used one password.

Speaker B
One password?

Speaker C
I used lastpass.

Speaker B
Yeah.

Speaker C
My password to get my last pass is like, as long as the constitution, because I'm worried about it getting hacked.

Rob Tannenbaum
What is your password?

Speaker C
All right, write this down. Wait a minute.

Speaker B
Is it.

Rob Tannenbaum
My name is not Adam. 1990.

Speaker C
Call me Ron. 64.

Speaker B
So you updated all your passwords, but you didn't change the master password?

Rob Tannenbaum
That's right.

Speaker B
Okay.

Rob Tannenbaum
That was the stupid thing I did.

Speaker B
Okay, so now, when, when you did all this, did you use, were you on your computer? Did your computer have any viruses or anything on it?

Rob Tannenbaum
Kept scanning it for malware.

Speaker B
Nothing.

Rob Tannenbaum
And there was no malware. I ran two different programs searching for malware. You know, one of the things that I discovered in the course of this absolutely miserable experience is that cybersecurity doesn't really exist for individuals. Most cybersecurity experts, they want to work with companies, they want to have a million dollar annual contract. And if you're an individual person, it's hard to find any expertise. But through Facebook, a friend of a friend, there was a guy I talked to who didn't want me to use his name in the article I wrote. And he said, listen, you just need. He said, I don't know what they've done, but they are in your computer, and you should assume that everything you do, they can see or know about. And you should, at this point, you should consider your computer toxic waste. So I took my computer offline. It's hard to live offline, for sure, especially if you're a writer, and replaced it with a new computer and started over. And one of the important things with starting over was not importing any of my existing applications, other than what's native to a Mac, because spyware or malware, whatever they implanted might have been in those applications.

Speaker B
So then, conceptually, they were getting copies of every single thing that you did?

Rob Tannenbaum
Conceivably, yeah. They saw photos of my kid, my nudes, everything really and those are priceless.

Speaker C
So you really did lose a lot. So in the end, when it comes all down to it, what did you end up losing after all of this, after all these breaches in all your accounts, were you out the money?

Rob Tannenbaum
I lost a big fat zero.

Speaker B
Okay.

Rob Tannenbaum
Because another thing I learned in the course of this is that there are some companies who are consumer friendly and some that aren't. That's. Everybody knows that. But the extent to which the experience varies from company, company was astounding. So I had been a Citibank customer since, gee, I don't even know, 30, 35 years. They closed my account without asking me and without even consulting me, there was fraud. And so they closed it. And they told me that if I wanted to reopen a checking account, I would have to carry a minimum monthly balance. It was 20 times what my previous account.

Speaker B
You're kidding.

Speaker C
What? No.

Rob Tannenbaum
So screw Citibank and also Amazon. I mean, look, I'm a journalist, and I played the I'm a journalist card with Amazon. They were, they were helped. They tried to be helpful. But there are 1.5 million employees at Amazon. It's a bureaucracy. And nobody I found was empowered to fix my problem. It just kept getting bumped from department to department. On the other hand, my investment bank, I'd lost $4,000. They restored that money, okay? So I didn't lose that. What I lost was a certain amount of peace of mind and sleep and hours and hours of time. You know, I'm living proof you do not want to get hacked. You certainly don't want your password manager hacked. So one of the things that I. That I do now, I changed all my passwords again, except for some accounts that they're never going to want to access because there's nothing to be gained from it. And I have a separate password for each of my e commerce and banking accounts. I do not reuse those passwords, which makes them harder to remember. And I'm not even really using a password manager at this point. My passwords are written down on an index card. And that way, if one of those passwords gets out on the dark web in a data breach, I don't have to worry about it because it's not repeated anywhere.

Speaker B
See, but you bring up a great point, Rob, is that we have all these big companies making trillions of dollars, not just Amazon, Citibank. Think about. I'm thinking about when you were talking about everybody who emails me or puts me a note on social, whatever it may be, that I got hacked by Facebook. Oh, my gosh. I probably hear that five to ten times a day, and there's nobody to help. Okay. You know, but it's, for some reason, when we get inside the tech industry, it seems to be like, it's okay that you can't really get any help. I mean, think about if for some reason you couldn't open the gas cap on your GM car, okay. And there was nobody to help you.

Speaker C
Okay, you just have to go read some forum somewhere on Reddit to try.

Speaker B
And figure it out, or, yeah, okay. That would be unacceptable that you could not call American Airlines to say, you bumped me off of a flight and now I can't get. But we get inside the tech industry, the whole Internet verse, and we think, like, well, that's just the way it is.

Speaker C
But we accept it, too, because when you have a problem with tech, you, the first thing you say is, well, there's obviously not an 800 number to call. I'm just going to have to figure this out on my own.

Speaker B
Or you get, like, what you did, right? You get a friend of a friend. You say, okay, how can you help me out?

Rob Tannenbaum
Let's think individually about Facebook and Amazon as businesses. If you get hacked on Facebook, it doesn't hurt Facebook. It certainly doesn't hurt their bottom line. So why should they care? Why should they invest in customer service representatives who can be reached through an 800 number? It's a little different at Amazon because they did lose money, but again, it's scale. How much money do they lose a year through fraud? It must be minuscule compared to what their income is.

Speaker B
Well, I think I saw something that they're making, like, $8 million a minute. Some crazy number like that.

Rob Tannenbaum
It was just like, mostly from me, I think.

Speaker B
Not just you. I mean, my Amazon guy actually said, are you okay, Kim? Because you're not getting a box every day. I'm like, yeah, I know. Sorry. Well, this is great stuff, Rob. Thanks for telling your story as a word. You know, make sure that everybody's just aware. And that was really interesting about the archive folder. I had not heard of that before.

Speaker C
Yeah, that's. That's the next level. That's another thing we have to look out for when it comes to security of our stuff.

Rob Tannenbaum
I tipped my hat to the bastards who stole my money.

Speaker A
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Speaker B
Hey, it's Kim Commando. Today we are getting almost near this incredible point with this podcast where if you have a great comment, I might give you just 15 seconds of fame.

Speaker C
A little love.

Speaker B
Exactly. So we want you to make sure that you, like, comment, share. We're going to be grabbing all those comments, the best ones. We're going to be reading them. And if you are wearing, hey, dudes, you don't need to let us know that whole bit is over. We did that, like, 30 days ago.

Speaker C
Yeah, we haven't mentioned it.

Speaker B
I know, but it's like, I'm still getting like, okay. I mean, I noticed that you're wearing, like, fendi shoes. Not, hey, dudes. I mean, I'm like, yes, okay, great shoes.

Speaker C
It's a great product. They should advertise on this podcast.

Speaker B
Okay.

Speaker C
I absolutely love my hey, dudes.

Speaker B
And not for nothing, we couldn't. We didn't have anybody who wanted my hey, dudes.

Speaker C
That's true. We tried to give them away. We couldn't give them away.

Speaker B
So then I took them over to Amber. I said, here, send these back to Amazon. Okay? And then I said to Alex, are you gonna wear those hey, dudes? She's like, absolutely not. And I'm like, okay, well, let's send yours back to Amazon, too.

Speaker C
So some person's gonna buy Kim commando used hey, dudes.

Speaker B
I wore them for, like 10 seconds.

Speaker C
Still used, still game worn.

Speaker B
All right, so we're going a little over, but let's talk about Utah.

Speaker C
The state of Utah. First state in the union to pass AI rules and laws. When it comes to business, there's two major portions. The first one is if you are a licensed business. So a therapist, a doctor, anything, a contractor, anyone who needs a license. And you're using AI as an interface to with your customers, you have to divulge that. You have to tell your customer when they come in, if they're filling out a form, if they're getting a phone call. That that is artificial intelligence that you're speaking with and interacting with.

Speaker B
So, good news or bad news?

Speaker C
It's great. The more the consumer knows. The fact of the matter is, when you get these calls, I mean, you've gotten them. When you've called a business and you think you're talking to a real human and you're not, well, it takes about two questions to figure out that it's a computer, but now they have to say it upfront. Here's the big one. Telemarketers robocalls. They will have to also say that this is artificial intelligence that they are using. I got one today from an AI machine.

Speaker B
Yes, my name is Travis.

Speaker C
Not a good one. No, it's a good AI machine.

Speaker B
And it was like, you know, want to talk to you about helping the children.

Speaker C
I gotta get one that sounds like an old guy. It's like, hey, do you love the veterans? Cause I love the veterans. But it's obviously artificial intelligence. And now they will have to say it at the beginning of the phone call. Tell the customer right away you're speaking to AI and that the AI is recording you and recording the information and things you say. The penalty will be 20, anywhere from $2500 to $5,000 per instance.

Speaker B
If speaker one, wonder why Utah was first.

Speaker C
I don't know. I don't. They had, well, they just put in two councils on artificial intelligence within the government. And those councils are the ones that came with the law, brought it to the state senate and Congress and put it on the.

Speaker B
We should think about how we can use AI here. Yes.

Speaker C
You use AI every day, don't you?

Speaker B
No. I mean, like, as far as, like with the show. I mean, like, instead of paying you well, I mean, anything like that. I mean, we could have like an AI.

Speaker C
No, no. I don't think we can implement it at all. I don't think it can happen. It's impossible. It's impossible.

Speaker A
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Speaker B
All right, it's Kim Commando today. You know, it's your great podcast and you love it. So if you're listening to the audio version, make sure that you check out the video version. Checking out the video version, make sure that you check out the audio version.

Speaker C
It's easy.

Speaker B
So easy.

Speaker C
And both of them you can subscribe to so you know exactly when a new episode drops of the video podcast or the audio version.

Speaker B
And speaking of, subscribe.

Speaker C
Yes.

Speaker B
Look at that professional. So smooth segue. Make sure that you get our free newsletter. You're gonna love it. Sign up over at Get Kim.com. once again, that's getkim.com dot. But I'm gonna do you a solid one. Even better that if you go to winfromkim.com, win from kim.com, is that not only can you sign up for the newsletter, but you're also entered to win a $500 Amazon gift card.

Speaker C
Yeah, but probably I'm going to have to get the newsletter for like a whole year, right? One issue, just one day.

Speaker B
That's it.

Speaker C
It's easy.

Speaker B
Want to know something about the contest?

Speaker C
Yeah.

Speaker B
Is that I made a mistake.

Speaker C
Okay.

Speaker B
What happened that I thought, like, a dollar 500 Amazon gift card would be, like, a great price.

Speaker C
Enticing. Yes.

Speaker B
I mean, I thought, like, people be like, oh, yeah, I can use it to buy whatever I want.

Speaker C
Right.

Speaker B
Do you know we have, like, not too many people even entering.

Speaker C
And same thing can kind of happen with a laptop. Right?

Speaker B
You know what? An iPhone, that's all people.

Speaker C
That's the one that spikes.

Speaker B
I mean, it's like tens of thousands of entries on an iPhone. So guess what the next contest is gonna be.

Speaker C
Samsung phone.

Speaker B
Yes, exactly. A Huawei jitterbug. Yes. Jitterbug. Doo doo doo doo doo. So here's the deal. If you want to win a $500 Amazon gift card, can you buy an.

Speaker C
Iphone for $500 on Amazon?

Speaker B
700, probably the cheapest one. And that's gonna be a refurb.

Speaker C
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker B
So, but anyway, so, but I'm just saying, if you want to win a $500 Amazon, this is a great contest, man, for you to do that.

Speaker C
And don't wait for the next contest to come where she's giving away an iPhone. Cause that may not happen.

Speaker B
Okay. But if you wanna get a $500 Amazon gift card, the odds are in your favor.

Speaker C
You're just tanking us today.

Speaker B
I'm being honest.

Speaker C
Okay. That's fair.

Speaker B
Okay. What should I have said?

Speaker C
You should have said. You should have cut it off at a win with a win for Kim. What is it again?

Speaker B
Win from Kim.com.

Speaker C
That'S too new. It takes me a while to get it programmed in there. You should have just said, go to win from Kim.com, get dollar 500 gift card, and moved on. Went straight to the comments.

Rob Tannenbaum
Wow.

Speaker B
A little rough on me today, aren't you?

Speaker C
I am.

Speaker B
I told you. You know, when you got here, I said. I even said to you, I said, you tired today? A little cranky. Little cranky?

Speaker C
I guess I am. Ornery.

Speaker B
All right. Liz Dotson loved your past tense.

Speaker C
Of course she did. They love your jokes.

Speaker B
They do. They do. Iris L. O'Neil.

Speaker C
Ooh.

Speaker B
Do you think they're irish?

Speaker C
I don't think so.

Speaker B
She prefers glamping. You and me both, girlfriend. Okay.

Speaker C
When's the last time you've been camping? Camping? Like sleeping on the ground camping? Did the year start with 1980 something?

Speaker B
Well, there was boy scout camp.

Speaker C
Oh, okay.

Speaker B
I slept in my car.

Speaker C
That doesn't count.

Speaker B
Oh. You know what they have at the Beverly Wilshire?

Speaker C
This doesn't sound like a camping story, but I'm gonna still listen.

Speaker B
Okay. Is that you can. On the roof of the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills? Yes. Is that. They have a room that has a tent, and then there's like. It is a four Seasons.

Speaker C
Sure.

Speaker B
So inside this tent is a beautiful four Seasons room on the roof of the Beverly Hillsville show.

Speaker C
Did you stay there?

Speaker B
Yes.

Speaker C
How was it?

Speaker B
It was fabulous.

Speaker C
Did it feel like you were camping?

Speaker B
There were no crickets.

Rob Tannenbaum
Yeah.

Speaker C
I'm gonna guess 1985, and there was a potty time. You camped?

Speaker B
Shirley says, so many lunar ticks. Selling sunglasses.

Speaker C
That's good.

Speaker B
I like that.

Speaker C
That's a homemade joke. And that one's funny.

Speaker B
Megan Hunt. Happy Friday. Happy Friday to you. Friday. Gary Sumner says, that's really cool. Hello there, beta Gary. Patsy Healy says, probably don't want people really knowing what I'm thinking at times. Just saying.

Speaker C
That's true. What if you're like, you think of something in a browser, all of a sudden opens. It's got to be when it control it.

Speaker B
Richard Allegra. Thank you. This is just a great comment. Thanks to your recent episode on now hooked on there? I ruined it.

Speaker C
What's there? I ruined it.

Speaker B
It's just a hilarious channel. And he says, always learn something new with Kim Commando. Thank you.

Speaker C
I'll have to check that one out.

Speaker B
Anna Gregory says, I never understood how the scammers can use celebrities like Doctor Oz and their scammy ads, and they get by with no consequences. It's obvious that it's fake. There's so many ones. Like when they say, like shark tank as seen on shark Tank.

Speaker C
Google said they're gonna try and crack down.

Speaker B
Yeah, whatever.

Speaker C
And I believe the word try wasn't quote.

Speaker B
Yeah. Richard says, stupid iPhone changed Kim's name to Komodo.

Speaker C
Kim Komodo.

Speaker B
Hi, Kim Komodo here. Kim Komodo. Bonnie Ott said he didn't lose. So glad he didn't lose a lot of money after the password hack problems.

Speaker C
Yeah, he got all his money back. I mean, tons of time. If you read his article on his whole story. I mean, he had to work. It was like a full time job trying to get unhacked.

Speaker B
Yeah, for sure. Heart to heart. For me. Going to get worse with AI. It's a double edged sword. Jim wants to know, how often should passwords be changed? You know, that's a good question because science and research has proven that if you have to change your passwords, remember, like, I don't know if you remember, but years ago it would send it out. It's been 30 days, 90 days.

Speaker C
You have to.

Speaker B
Okay. The science has shown that if you have to change your password every 90 days, you're like, screw it. I'm just going to make it an easy password.

Speaker C
It's true. I've had the same bank password the entire time I've been with my bank. I've never once changed it. And I feel like, why are you putting your hands together like that?

Speaker B
I'm just. You're just begging. You're begging to get hacked.

Speaker C
But I think that it's a very, very strong password and that's why it's lasted the test of time.

Speaker B
Now Andrew has no money. Dollar sign, dollar sign. 1234 negative.

Speaker C
Dollar sign, dollar sign.

Speaker B
I see.

Speaker C
I know you're a big sports fan.

Speaker B
I love sports.

Speaker C
You already know this. Yes, that. The Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets in Texas both basketball.

Speaker B
Just going to ask.

Speaker C
I'm sorry, this is for chat. This is not for you. I know you know this. They are on incredible winning streaks. The Houston Rockets were in, like, the 12th spot in the Western Conference, and now they're only a half game out of being a playoff team. They are red hot.

Speaker B
Gosh, you know what? That just. That just makes me so happy.

Speaker C
Neither team has lost a game since Texas banned Pornhub.

Speaker B
Wait, say that again.

Speaker C
Neither team has lost a game since Texas banned Pornhub.

Speaker B
Maybe they're actually watching something else.

Speaker C
They're also. The hockey team there has only lost one game, and the other basketball team has only lost one game. There is this super sports focus. Athletes are now nothing else to do, so they're focusing on their craft. So this is what my plan is.

Speaker B
Okay?

Speaker C
The year of the next olympics, we turn off all porn on the entire Internet. We will win so many gold medals. I'm telling you, Russia, we will destroy Russia. We will destroy China.

Speaker B
Wouldn't you turn it off for them, too? Or you just let them have.

Speaker C
We double theirs? Okay, yes, we double the amount in.

Speaker B
Our only fans only nans. Whatever it might be.

Speaker C
Put it on, on local tv. Have huge jumbotrons in downtown Beijing just playing it because the state of Texas is red hot and cannot be beaten since Pornhub's been blocked.

Speaker B
Okay, so who's going to win?

Speaker C
Who's going, who's going to win what?

Speaker B
Between the Mavericks and the Rockets. Do they now play each other?

Speaker C
They don't.

Speaker B
Oh, yeah.

Speaker C
It's not. That's not how it works.

Speaker B
I'm sorry. I just. I don't know these things.

Speaker C
Going to win.

Speaker B
You're so mean to me.

Speaker C
Oh, it's so funny.

Speaker B
Oh, let's go to the Super bowl.

Speaker C
This program is a copyrighted production of.

Speaker B
Westar multimedia entertainment and protected by the copyright laws. Any rebroadcast or use of this program for commercial, business, economic or financial purposes without the written permission of Westar multimedia.

Speaker C
Entertainment is strictly prohibited.