667. Here’s Why You Are Constantly Fighting Off Scammers

A ruthless (and ruthlessly efficient) industry is using digital tools to supercharge one of the world’s oldest behaviors. We look at how the industry works, and ask the scam-fighters what they’re doing about it.

• SOURCES:

• Kati Daffan (linkedin.com/in/kati-daffan-91471460), former assistant director at the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Marketing Practices.

• Marti DeLiema (ssw.umn.edu/marti-deliema), assistant professor of social work at the University of Minnesota.

• Mark Frank (buffalo.edu/cas/communication/research/CSC.hos…), professor of communications at the University at Buffalo.

• RESOURCES:

• "Cambodian Scam Tycoon Wanted by U.S. Extradited to China (wsj.com/world/asia/cambodian-scam-tycoon-wante…)," by Gabriele Steinhauser (Wall Street Journal, 2026).

• "The Rise and Fall Of Accused Cambodian Scam Kingpin Chen Zhi (bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-09/who-is-…)," by Low De Wei (Bloomberg, 2026).

• "Protecting Older Consumers 2024-2025 (ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/P144400-Older…)," by the Federal Trade Commission (2025).

• "Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show (reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-for…)," by Jeff Horwitz (Reuters, 2025).

• "Exposed to Scams: What Separates Victims from Non-victims? (longevity.stanford.edu/scamtracker)," by Marti DeLiema, Emma Fletcher, Christine Kieffer, Gary Mottola, Rubens Pessanha, and Melissa Trumpower (Stanford Center on Longevity, 2019).

• "Why do Nigerian Scammers Say They are from Nigeria? (microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/upload…)," by Cormac Herley (Microsoft Research, 2016).

• Thinking, Fast and (amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/…)Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (2013).

• FTC Fraud Reporting Portal (reportfraud.ftc.gov).

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