‘Curious Conversations’ podcast: Katalin Parti talks about scammers and cybercrime
Katalin Parti joined Virginia Tech’s 'Curious Conversations’ to talk about how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are turbocharging social engineering scams and what individuals can do to protect themselves. She shared the common techniques scammers use, what could make a person more vulnerable to scams, and the red flags that can help mitigate such threats. Parti also talked about a new project she’s working on with residents of a retirement community to develop real-time tools to assist them in thwarting threats.
"Curious Conversations" is available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.
Takeaways
AI is making scams faster, cheaper, and more convincing in part by enhancing the personal nature and projection of authority of scams and providing immediate ways for victims to take action.
Research shows that scammers have different results with age populations. For example, younger populations are scammed at a higher rate, but older populations typically lose more money when scammed.
Best practices for individuals include slowing down any conversation, avoiding urgent decisions, verifying information with a second source, and using multi-factor authentication.
About Parti
Parti is an assistant professor with the Department of Sociology in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on both the offender and victim sides of cybercrime, sexual violence, and online manipulative scams targeting older people. Parti is a certified mediator and holds a European Certificate in Cybercrime and Electronic Evidence. She is also a co-author and co-editor of "Juvenile Justice and Schools: Policing, Processing, and Programming."
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About the podcast
‘Curious Conversations’ is a series of free-flowing conversations with Virginia Tech researchers that take place at the intersection of world-class research and everyday life. Produced and hosted by Travis Williams, assistant director of marketing and communications for the Office of Research and Innovation, university researchers share their expertise and motivations as well as the practical applications of their work in a format that more closely resembles chats at a cookout than classroom lectures. New episodes are shared each Tuesday.
