Fraud is the new black, writes Steve Bradford, Senior Vice President EMEA at the identity security product company SailPoint.
In 2020, as the world battled lockdowns, millions of people tuned in to Tiger King. It was the incredible story of murder-for-hire from the underworld of big cat breeding. Then in 2021, record-breaking numbers tuned into Squid Game, where hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games— with deadly high stakes. And in 2022, the world of entertainment unexpectedly embraced a new topic for popular consumption – fraud.
In Inventing Anna, under the name Anna Delvey, Anna Sorokin is able to con New York City’s upper crust into believing she is a German heiress with access to a substantial fortune.
In The Tinder Swindler, conman Simon Leviev used dating app Tinder to connect with individuals he then emotionally manipulated into supporting his lifestyle on the pretext he needed the money to escape his “enemies.”
In Bad Vegan, chef Sarma Melngailis, owner of Pure Food and Wine, a Manhattan hotspot, meets a man who manipulates her into stealing money from investors – she later pleads guilty in court to grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, and a scheme to defraud.
And in The Dropout, the founder of medical company Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, named by Forbes as America’s youngest self-made female billionaire, finds herself on bail awaiting sentencing for convictions for wire fraud.
Fraud has become the most popular topic on television. This is no accident. Fraud is so pervasive in our societies, that it was bound to become a topic for Hollywood studios. What is even more interesting is the public’s insatiable appetite to consume stories of people who have so defrauded their victims, that they are responsible for not just causing criminality, but huge anxiety, stress, despair and suffering. Fraud is no longer just a fringe topic – fraud has entered the mainstream. And it has unquestionably been accelerated by the digital age.
With the internet, protecting our identities takes on a whole new meaning. In this age of intense sharing across websites and social media – our names, birthdays, addresses, weekend plans, shopping lists and pictures, to name a few – identity as a proxy for scams has never been more tangible.
When we look closer into how scams happen in the digital age, identity is central to the success or failure of the scam. Our transparency has become our biggest weakness, as the ability to take the form of another person – real or fake – permeates our lives. All it takes is the click of a link in a phishing email, the oversharing of one critical piece of information or the leak of one reused password that allows a scammer to simply fly under the radar, under someone else’s persona.
Our identities connect us to our friends, family, co-workers and clients, and it transcends the boundaries that once existed between our personal lives and work lives. So, how do we both embrace our digital identities and protect them?
Trust No One
Zero-trust is a concept that has taken hold in recent years. In business, it should be a given at this point, but it’s time we all start adopting this as in our personal lives.
Before giving anyone access to your information, do your background research and verify that they are who they say they are. Make sure they are legitimate by digging into their website, reading user reviews, and checking any terms and conditions. Verify that your information won’t be shared with people you didn’t intend to share it with. Your data is currency, and in the wrong hands can cost you greatly! Just ask the Tinder Swindler’s victims…
Think Before You Click
Worldwide, email scams are costing businesses and consumers well over $12 billion annually. It’s a testament to the impact a simple link click can have a tidal wave effect. The best course of action is to scrutinise every email you get: hover over links before clicking, and don’t enter information into forms without being totally sure that you’re not handing over the keys to your digital identity in the process.
Wear Layers
From the ways we shield ourselves against the elements with layers of protective clothing, to the ways we lock our homes, protecting yourself from being a target in the first place is key. Making things harder for scammers means you are less likely to feel the shockwave of consequences if you do fall victim to a scam. Those layers include things like keeping your software up to date, using two-factor authentication, and simply slowing down and thinking before acting.
It takes little effort these days to believably shape-shift into another person. All Anna Delvey needed was a pair of Celine sunglasses and an Hermès bag. And so, it has never been more important than right now to see identity as the agent of our futures, the future of our businesses, and to protect it fiercely.
