Technology

• Facebook has removed more than two million accounts from its platform
• The accounts were engaged in so-called "pig butchering" scams
• The majority of the victims were in Asian markets

In an effort to crack down on organized crime on its platform, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta has taken down more than two million scam accounts.

The company revealed the news in a blog post, outlining how the bulk of these accounts were used in so-called “pig butchering” scams.

Pig butchering is a type of scam in which the scammer “stuffs the pig” and prepares it for “slaughter”. In this context, stuffing the pig means tricking the victim into giving away as much money as possible, for as long as possible, before the scam is revealed and the gig is up.

Asia-Pacific hotbed

Such scams are usually done via social engineering, on platforms such as Facebook. The scammers would create fake accounts of (mostly) young, attractive females, and engage in seemingly benign conversation with potential victims. At some point, the scammers would introduce an amazing investment opportunity or platform which, in reality, is not real and is maintained by the crooks.

They would invite the victim to “invest” together, in preparation of a new life spent together. The victim would give money through an app, and would be shown that investment growing over time. At this point, however, the money is already gone, and is nothing more than numbers on a screen. The scammer would try to keep the ruse going for as long as possible, getting the victim to spend as much as they can.

When, at some point, the victim tries to withdraw the money (or realizes something is amiss), they will see that it’s not possible.

In some cases, the fraudsters would take it a bit further, impersonating “tech support” from the “investment platform”, and telling the victim to pay a withdrawal fee, or something similar - a final attempt at extracting as much value from the victim as they can.

Meta says that the majority of the scam centers were located in Asia-Pacific, particularly Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and more recently, the UAE. The victims, however, are scattered all over the globe. The campaign to crack down on these scams is a joint effort, which included many major cryptocurrency exchanges, tech companies such as OpenAI, and law enforcement organizations.

"Every day, criminals target people across the world through text messaging, dating apps, social media and email in so-called ‘pig-butchering’ and other schemes that try to con them into scam investments," the company's blog psot noted.

"We hope that sharing our insights will help inform our industry’s defenses so we can collectively help protect people from criminal scammers."

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• RingConn's app has received an overhaul
• It has new AI tools and a better look
• The AI chatbot is lackluster

RingConn has published an overhaul of its smart ring app, with it getting a fresh coat of paint and a substantial upgrade that leaves the app feeling like a much more robust wellness tool. This is excellent news for anyone looking to pick up a cheap option among the best smart rings, especially right now, as it's on sale for Black Friday.

Starting with the obvious style change, the layout remains similar, but the various charts and graphs have been tweaked visually. For example, the wellness balance chart on the app’s main page has morphed from its diamond-like design to a much more readable flower-like design.

The corresponding petal is filled in as you improve your Activity, Sleep, Relax Status, and Vitals Status scores. It’s very similar to the previous graph, except that it’s significantly more understandable at a quick glance.

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Future)Before...Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Future / RingConn)... and after

Those improvements to glanceability extend to other aspects of the home page and stats pages but let’s talk about new features. AI has come to the RingConn app in a big way with the introduction of Health Plans.

The first of these plans to launch is a Body and Mind Balance plan – a Sleep improvement plan is apparently on the way, according to the app – and after answering a quick survey about your activity patterns, the software will provide specific daily targets for you to achieve so you can steadily morph from your current routine to your new healthier normal.

There’s also an AI chatbot you can converse with, but as the app notes, it can only respond to fixed questions. Because of this limitation, it’s not the most useful as it repackages the insights the app already gives you. Still, as it develops, I could see the AI becoming a useful fitness companion.

A reason to use the app

RingConn Gen 2 (Image credit: Future)

Since testing the RingConn Gen 2 for our review, I’ve kept using the ring pretty much all the time – save for the week or two I had lost it (it fell behind my bedside table) – but I’ve realized I increasingly relied on the app a lot less because the stats I cared most about were easily viewable in the Android app widget. I could easily check my sleep, activity score, and ring battery with just a brief look at my home screen.

The in-depth insights were useful, but I often just wanted a quick recap of my stats and a brief guide to improving. The app's facelift and health plan tool is perfect and gives me a reason to open it up more frequently, as I can now get that extra detail and daily targets in a condensed, quick-to-read fashion.

As I mentioned above, the Ai doesn’t feel entirely helpful, but overall, this RingConn app overhaul looks to be a massive boost instead of a downgrade, and I’m excited to see what improvements we get next.

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• Cloudflare says European countries saw “little-to-no observable impact” following cable damage
• BSC East-West Interlink and C-Lion1 cables were damaged recently
• Several redundancy options kept the affected nations online

Recent damage to undersea internet cables in the Baltic Sea which affected some European countries may not have been as bad first though, after Cloudflare claimed the potential sabotage had “little-to-no observable impact” whatsoever.

The company credited this to Europe’s robust internet infrastructure, demonstrating a high level of resilience supported by a network of redundancy options to keep the continent connected to the internet.

Two lines were impacted – the BSC East-West Interlink cable between Lithuania and Sweden, and the C-Lion1 cable linking Finland to Germany.

Internet cable damage didn’t really affect us

Cloudflare used metrics like internet quality, latency and bandwidth in the supposedly affected countries to reveal that networks remained stable.

The BCS East-West Interlink, damaged on November 17, usually carried around one-third of Lithuania’s internet capacity, however alternate pathways allowed the country to stay connected without major disruptions.

One day later, the C-Lion1 cable was damaged. Minor fluctuations in internet performance, like a slight change in bandwidth and latency in Finland, were observed, however they were remediated within just hours.

Although undersea cables are critical to keeping countries connected to the internet, several redundancy options make it extremely difficult to entirely cut off a nation.

Sweden is connected by more than 20 subsea cables, while Finland and Germany have 10. They also benefit from land-based fiber networks, all of which help keep the countries and their critical infrastructures connected during such outages.

However, the threat of sabotage to undersea cables remains a key focus for many countries. The Danish Navy recently intercepted a suspected Chinese vessel, highlighting the need to protect these physical connections.

Earlier in 2024, we reported NATO had revealed plans to use satellite-based connections to safeguard against undersea cable attacks, while other consumer options like Starlink promise to keep citizens connected.

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• The Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit has seized 240 fraudulent sites
• The sites were used by ONNX to sell phishing templates
• Phishing attacks target millions of users per month

Millions of phishing emails targeting victims every day use ‘do it yourself’ phishing kits developed by Egypt-based ONNX - but the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit has now seriously disrupted this operation, seizing 240 fraudulent websites used to help sell Phishing-as-a-Service (PaaS) kits.

Phishing poses a real threat to individuals and organizations alike, with successful phishing attacks delivering devastating financial and data loss. Cybercriminals have taken this further by developing ‘kits’ to sell to other criminals to help develop widespread phishing campaigns and bypass security measures by intercepting MFA requests.

The attacks that originate from the ‘do it yourself’ kits represent a significant portion of the tens of millions of phishing attacks Microsoft accounts receive each month. The ONNX operation is one of the top five phish kit providers by email volume in 2024, according to Microsoft’s digital defense reports, so the disruption is significant.

Name and shame

Microsoft has decided to publicly name the individual behind the storefront, Abanoub Nady (known online as “MRxC0DER”), who has been tied to the operation as far back as 2017, and is well established in the PaaS sphere.

ONNX offers a tiered subscription service, with basic, professional, and enterprise plans - which are promoted, sold, and configured through Telegram, and they even provide ‘how to’ videos for criminals to properly implement the phishing kits.

Many of the kits used a technique called ‘quishing’, or QR code phishing, which prompts users to scan codes where they are redirected to malicious fake websites to enter personal or payment information.

“As we’ve said before, no disruption is complete in one action. Effectively combatting cybercrime requires persistence and ongoing vigilance to disrupt new malicious infrastructure,” said Assistant General Counsel, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit, Steven Masada.

“While today’s legal action will substantially hamper the fraudulent ONNX’s operations, other providers will fill the void, and we expect threat actors will adapt their techniques in response.”

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• Workers are having to learn how to adapt to AI-capable PCs, study finds
• Once hurdles are overcome, it could save hours on administrative work
• AI PC shipments are on the rise, at 20% of all PC sales

New research has claimed workers using AI PCs might actually end up being less productive than their counterparts using more conventional PCs - at least to begin with.

An Intel study of 6,000 participants from a handful of European countries highlighted a number of challenges related to integrating AI tools into daily workflows, despite their promise of efficiency boosts.

The figures suggest workers using AI PCs are spending more time on routine tasks than their peers, likely due to the learning curve required to get up to speed with the new tech.

AI PCs aren’t helping to boost productivity… right now

Mundane tasks, like writing emails, organizing files and transcribing meetings, look to be taking considerable time and effort as users adapt to these systems, however the true benefit of artificial intelligence beyond this initial learning curve is yet to be revealed.

However, the potential reach is large – workers currently waste 51 minutes searching for files, 67 minutes summarizing documents, 72 minutes writing emails, 56 minutes organizing inboxes, 59 minutes taking note meetings and 53 minutes scheduling calls each week. AI tools have been sold with the promise of reducing the burden of these administrative tasks.

“Our role as technology leaders is to support this transition to AI-assisted living and equip consumers with the knowledge they need to use an AI PC efficiently and ethically," noted Intel’s VP and GM of client AI and technical marketing, Robert Hallock.

Intel is currently seeing revenues plummet as it loses out to other rivals in the chipmaking business, like Nvidia and AMD, who have had more success in the market.

However figures from Canalys figures have claimed AI PCs now account for one in five of all PCs shipped.

“Despite the positive momentum, significant work must still be done to convince both channel partners and end customers of the benefits of AI-capable PCs," commented Principal Analyst Ishan Dutt.

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• ESET discovers a new piece of malware called WolfsBane
• This malware features a dropper, a launcher, and a backdoor
• It is being used by a group known as Gelsemium

Chinese hackers have built new all-in-one malware to target Linux devices, a new report from cybersecurity researchers ESET, have said.

The WolfsBane malware features a dropper, launcher, a backdoor, and a modified open-source rootkit for detection evasion. While not completely outlandish, the approach is rather unconventional, since most hacking groups will develop just one of these features, and use other people’s solutions for the rest.

That being said, WolfsBane’s key ability is to grant its operators total control over the compromised system. It can execute commands coming in from the C2 server, exfiltrate data, and ultimately - manipulate the system.

Gelsemium is active

ESET doesn’t know for certain how the attackers accessed the target systems to deploy the malware in the first place, but assesses “with medium confidence” that the group exploited an unknown web application vulnerability.

The group, in this instance, is called Gelsemium, suggesting that it has at least one herbalist in its ranks. Itis a relatively known Chinese group, active since at least 2014. It mostly targets government institutions, educational organizations, electronics manufacturers, and religious institutions. The majority of its victims are located in East Asia and the Middle Easts.

ESET also suggests that the group decided to target Linux since Windows’ defenses have been getting better lately.

"The trend of APT groups focusing on Linux malware is becoming more noticeable,” ESET said.

“We believe this shift is due to improvements in Windows email and endpoint security, such as the widespread use of endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools and Microsoft's decision to disable Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default. Consequently, threat actors are exploring new attack avenues, with a growing focus on exploiting vulnerabilities in internet-facing systems, most of which run on Linux."

Via BleepingComputer

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Monitoring call times, optimizing agent schedules, timely analytics, not to mention the ability to view the entire customer journey in real and historic-time, ensuring agents have the on-demand resources and data to deal with complex customer requests – the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in customer service are huge and still only in part realized.

The value of AI is not in replacing jobs, but in doing the jobs that enhance the ears, the eyes, and the ‘voice’ of the contact center – their agents, so that both can, put simply, do their job of looking after the customer so much better. He explains how to find your way through the AI hype to the four areas where AI will bring contact centers and employees most value.

A recent Deloitte study “2024 Global Contact Center Survey” finds that service innovators are over performing and setting a new gold standard – 1.6x in meeting strategic goals, 4.6x in improving customer satisfaction and 2.5x in employee satisfaction. The report identifies service innovators as those that invest in the use of AI and analytics as key drivers.

Using AI in the contact center can contribute massively to quality management and take away the laborious activities associated with quality management when reviewed by a human For example, AI can track whether the call went according to all rules, regulations, and company policies, it can monitor whether the tone of voice was correct, and it can determine if customer details, financial or not, have been stored correctly and safely. It can of course do all this at a much quicker rate than humans, and aids the better management of day-to-day operations.

But there’s even more potential to leverage AI - aggregating and analyzing key contact center data points – then integrating these insights into a real-time dashboard to automatically alert contact center supervisors of any exceptional activity. The potential goes on.

So you need to get on to the AI bus, but how do you find your way through the AI hype?

There are four key areas where AI is seriously improving customer contact enablement in the contact center:

1. Text channels with an AI boost keep flexibility at the core

Regardless of the number of agents operating in a contact center, AI can be a useful tool in the condensing and analysis of large amounts of data. If you think AI will be used to replace humans, read on. New research suggests that 70% of contact center managers believe AI will mean there will be more agents in the next 10 years, not fewer – and their roles are likely to evolve. Here’s how.

The use and need of AI can vary from business to business, so it’s important that a comprehensive contact center solution keeps flexibility at the heart of operations. Integrating AI into text channels, i.e., emails, SMS, web chat, and other social channels needs varying levels of flexibility. For example, does a customer wish to use AI-assist for email enquiries? Or would they simply prefer an automated email process?

AI is capable of answering simple questions. A customer query into business opening times would not warrant a human agent response, in fact, it would simply be a waste of agent time and resources. Instead, AI could answer this quickly and efficiently, leaving human agents to deal with more complex enquiries

But the human element remains. The age of personalization is not dead, and its with these more complex queries that human interaction still has a strong hold over the customer journey. Here, AI uses customer data to inform next actions dependent on the individual customer. It can route customer queries to the right person, and provide assistance for these requests – think suggested responses, summarized data, previous call history.

It all contributes to a better customer experience and employee experience. When agents are better equipped to deal with these queries, they are empowered, their efficiency is increased, and confidence and trust is instilled and builds for both customers and employees.

…and it speaks any language!

Transcription and translation services within AI make global communication easier. Even if the agent and the customer are speaking different languages, AI integrated into these text channels can help them communicate in a preferred language. The benefits are clear to see, particularly for countries with multiple languages - Belgium, as an example, has four languages!

2. The ears and eyes of the contact center: AI call routing improves CX and EX

Directing a customer query to the right place and person might sound like standard practice, but it’s a critical element of a great customer journey. Customers always demand a quick and easy resolution. It’s where a comprehensive recording helps. Call recording is not new, but the process can be made even better with the use of AI. AI will listen to the call in progress and provide summaries to the agent, and suggestive answers. It’s there to help employees and ensure they have correct tools, answers, and data to be efficient.

Using AI, the purpose of the call can be quickly analyzed. Whether it’s to ensure that previous correspondence is considered – perhaps a customer sent an email a while back, this will be added to their record – or that the reason for call is directed to the right department in the contact center. It’s important that the right agent has the means to deal with the query on the end of the call.

It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it.

Going a step further, AI also provides semantic recognition to monitor the tone of the call – it examines the conversation for specific words or the general sentiment or mood of the customer, such as whether they’re slightly angry, very disappointed or even laughing, for example. Sentiment analysis is used by the system to proactively analyze cases and provide agents with suggestions for how to resolve issues quickly and effectively, to ensure the customer journey is pleasant right the way through. It all aids better, more effective training.

Not only this, sentiment analysis can also send alerts directly to a supervisor for the chance to intervene or be used in future training exercises to improve employee workflows. It can work across screens, social media, and webchat, in fact, it will operate on whatever channel agents and customers are using, to support additional training and an agent’s ability to solve the issue.

3. Historical and real-time reporting: Knowledge of the past enables you to deal with the future

Reporting provides visibility into processes and events that might not be visible on quick inspection – something that is especially important in the virtual contact center where service and operations are spread out over remote locations.

When it comes to day-to-day operations, reporting within the contact center can be hugely beneficial when integrated with the use of AI in three particular areas: wasted time is reduced by ensuring human agents are focused on the jobs that matter most, human agents and distractions are monitored and assessed on how to be minimized, and the length of calls and busy peak times are reduced, as contact centers can ensure they have enough staff on during busy periods, with a focus on how calls can be more efficient.

In order to maximize the value in their data, contact centers need two types of reporting: Historical reporting and Real-time insights. Both are vital to laser in on key pain points in the customer journey and address them with precision.

4. A safe place: Keeping data secure with Microsoft Azure AI

After all this, the importance of security can’t go unnoticed. Gen-AI requires access to a large data set, and in a contact center setting this can be personal customer data that must be kept safe. If you’re storing customer data, then it’s a given that you need a secure technology stack that keeps this information private.

For example, a solution natively integrated with Microsoft Teams means the entire tech stack, including AI models, is Microsoft based. Therefore, all data is stored in Azure Open AI, and therefore all data is always kept in the tenant customer. Risk and safety monitoring, safety evaluations, prompt shields, safety system messages are just a handful of the new features coming to Microsoft Azure AI to help keep businesses safe. Take a cyberattack as an example. If a cyberattack meets certain criteria defined by the security team, AI can automate the response and isolate the affected assets. Generative AI takes this one step further by producing original natural language text, images, and other content based on patterns in existing data.

Keeping customers secure is a top priority for Microsoft, which is why the company invests $1 billion every year into security, which includes protecting the Azure infrastructure. It also employs 3,500 cybersecurity experts, including 200 who continually look for weaknesses. When it comes to how the technology works, data sent within the Azure environment is automatically encrypted by AI. Then, automated smart traffic monitoring and profiling makes it easier to detect and deflect threats as the system knows when something looks out of the ordinary.

The triple boost from AI: enhancing EX, CX, and contact center operations!

The power of AI when used correctly in the contact center can be felt along the entire contact center chain. It begins with well-trained, empowered employees that are equipped with the tools and data to perform at an exceedingly high level. They are able to answer customer queries quickly, and correctly, in whatever language the customer speaks!

Contact center operations are optimized, whether it be for the length of calls and monitoring for peak times, contact centers can use AI to reduce wait times and ensure more staff are working in busy periods. Effective reporting software gives employees access to historical information and real-time insights to assess the severity of queries. Not to mention that all their data and personal information is kept safe!

And finally, it all contributes to a better customer experience – whether it be a quick resolution, first time fixes, short wait times, or a call directed to the correct department – it all falls under the CX umbrella.

Remember, AI does the jobs better that are too time consuming for humans to do, leaving humans to do the jobs that they are good at better – customer service.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• OpenAI could be mulling the idea of making a browser, but it’s early days
• The browser would pack ChatGPT, but we have precious few details yet
• OpenAI has recruited some key staff involved in the making of Chrome

OpenAI appears to be gunning for another key aspect of Google’s business, with apparent plans to build a web browser to rival Chrome.

You’ll get no points for guessing that OpenAI’s creation would, naturally enough, be a heavily AI-infused take on a browser client. According to a report from The Information, OpenAI is considering the development of a web browser that would be combined with ChatGPT.

Exactly what that browser might look like, we don’t yet know, and judging from what’s in the report, this is still in the early stages – and very much a ‘might happen’ or ‘might not’ possibility at this point.

However, even though the report makes it clear that OpenAI isn’t “remotely close” to launching a browser yet, things are happening in the background which amount to enough evidence that OpenAI is taking this potential product launch seriously.

For starters, The Information has learned that OpenAI has hired two staff members who were ‘instrumental’ in making Chrome for Google, namely Ben Goodger and Darin Fisher.

The report also claims that alongside mulling its browser, OpenAI has been talking to multiple companies, or has even struck deals with some, to “power search features for travel, food, real estate and retail websites.” That’s the word from people who’ve seen prototypes or designs related to this work, and we’re told OpenAI has spoken to a number of companies about these search products, including Conde Nast, Redfin, Eventbrite and Priceline.

On top of that, there’s a further contention that OpenAI has been in discussions with Samsung about bringing its AI features to Galaxy smartphones – and muscling out Google there, which has a deal with Samsung to drive some AI features with its Gemini AI (though Samsung has its own AI concoction in the form of Bixby, too).

Analysis: Towering ambitions

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Ascannio)

Is OpenAI going for Google’s throat, then? Well, it very much looks that way given this latest info dump, and previous moves, such as OpenAI launching SearchGPT, a rival search engine product put into testing earlier this year (with the expectation that it’ll be fully realized in ChatGPT before the year is out).

The Information also underlines how OpenAI is pushing its ‘Natural Language Web’ to power conversational search features on websites (or apps) to radically change the way a person interacts with a site – talking to it, rather than navigating the website.

Okay, so much of this is still under discussion, and in the form of plans rumbling along in the background that may, or may not, happen – particularly the browser, which sounds really airy. We’re not given any details at all as to how this AI-led browser might work.

If a browser is coming, development would be a very long haul yet, of course – it’s a huge undertaking to get a software client like this right. But even if this ends up just being theorizing and mulling, it clearly shows the intent, and extent of the well-financed ambition, that’s buzzing behind the doors of OpenAI.

Certainly, Google is aware of the dangers here, and the report mentions that the company is preparing for the possibility of having to compete with OpenAI to power AI features for Samsung phones, according to a source with knowledge of what’s going on behind the scenes right now.

Meanwhile, according to the rumor mill, Google is hard at work trying to make Gemini more closely mimic a human’s ability to reason in ChatGPT fashion.

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Like many of you, I’ve had phone calls from scammers. They’re usually very easy to spot, even before I pick up the phone – invariably they are from an unknown mobile number, something a legitimate organization would never use. The caller then goes on to explain that they are calling from my phone provider – clearly a list of phone numbers associated with particular phone companies has been leaked at some point.

Despite their sophistication, I can get these scammers to hang up with five simple words: “who are you calling for?” They may have my number, but they don’t have my name or indeed any other personal details, so asking them who they are calling for, and repeating the question when they inevitably try to evade it, always causes them to hang up in a panic. I could, of course, end the call myself, or not take the call, but there is a small degree of satisfaction in letting criminals who exploit the most vulnerable people in our society know that they can be undone in only five words.

While typical scams can be easy to thwart, new fraud tactics are emerging every day and can fool the wariest of consumers. Even people who are well-informed can fall for what seem to outsiders to be pretty obvious scams all the time: you may recall a finance advice columnist being persuaded to hand over $50,000 dollars in cash in a shoe box to a scam caller claiming to be from the CIA. The demographic most likely to fall for scams isn’t the elderly, but digital natives under 25s.

Why is APP Fraud so prevalent?

The most common form of fraud by far is authorized push payment (APP) fraud. The definition is simple, but the ways in which it can be carried out are widely varied: at its most basic level, APP fraud is any fraud that makes use of the APP technology. Those of you who use banking apps will be familiar with the ability to send payments to friends or businesses through the app, and the multiple layers of warnings that you may be sending money to a scammer. You can also send push payments by calling a bank’s customer service line or in a branch, though these are less common, and fraudsters will try to steer you away from these solutions since bank employees are trained to look for evidence of scams.

The scale of the problem is staggering. In 2023 alone, £1.17 billion was stolen through various forms of fraud, and while APP losses decreased by 5%, the total number of APP cases rose by 12%​. Despite major efforts by banks to mitigate these losses—deploying increasingly sophisticated technology, partnering with law enforcement, and rolling out public awareness campaigns—criminals continue to evolve. In fact, 76% of APP fraud originated online, with an additional 16% coming from telecommunications​.

While financial institutions bear the brunt of combatting fraud through proactive measures, consumers are still being tricked into sending money to fraudsters. Even with layers of alerts, prompts, and security measures, scams continue to succeed, primarily because through generative AI and machine-learning tools, criminals have become expert manipulators. They exploit consumers' trust in legitimate platforms, making it harder to detect fraud until it's too late.

The hard truth about APP Fraud

So, what is the missing link? The answer is, unfortunately, consumers. No amount of regulation, no reimbursement policy, or sophisticated technology can fully replace the vigilance and awareness required at the consumer level. Banks can prevent unauthorized fraud—where payments are made without a customer’s consent—more effectively than APP fraud, where the customer themselves authorizes the transaction, albeit under false pretenses. In unauthorized fraud cases, banks are able to recover or prevent the loss of money in 64% of incidents​. APP fraud, by contrast, often sees a much lower rate of recovery, as criminals are adept at moving money quickly once they’ve gained access to an account.

APP scams often involve highly believable social engineering techniques. Fraudsters impersonate legitimate organizations such as banks, government departments, or even utility companies. In other instances, they exploit emotional vulnerabilities, like in romance scams, where victims are convinced they’re in a genuine relationship. These types of fraud play out over long periods of time, sometimes involving up to ten separate payments per case​. With such a personal touch, it’s easy to see how these scams bypass even the most robust security measures.

The financial industry has certainly stepped up, but the hard truth remains: criminals will always adapt to the latest technological advancements, meaning the fraud landscape will continue to evolve. The focus, therefore, must also shift towards empowering consumers with the skills they need to recognize fraud before it happens.

Consider the generational gap in fraud susceptibility. You might expect older adults, who are often seen as less tech-savvy, to be most at risk. Yet under-25s are statistically more likely to fall victim to online scams. This isn’t due to a lack of familiarity with technology; quite the opposite. Young adults, comfortable with digital environments, tend to be more trusting of online interactions​. They are also the demographic most likely to engage in behaviors that make them vulnerable to fraud, such as using insecure platforms for transactions or being lured by ‘too good to be true’ deals on social media.

Fighting APP fraud starts with consumers

To truly combat APP fraud, consumers need to develop a healthy level of scepticism when it comes to their digital interactions. Trusting that a bank’s warnings or anti-fraud systems will always intervene is misguided. Instead, consumers must be educated to recognize warning signs for themselves, as knowing which questions to ask could save them from falling victim to APP fraud.

Banks and fintech companies can continue to implement top-tier fraud prevention systems, and they should, but there will always be an inherent limitation to what those systems can achieve. Criminals are, by nature, opportunistic and constantly on the lookout for weak links. Unfortunately, the weakest link remains human psychology. To stop APP fraud, we must first get smart.

While the banking industry has undoubtedly made strides in combating APP fraud, it cannot be solely responsible for eliminating it. True fraud prevention will only occur when consumers become more informed, cautious, and empowered to question the legitimacy of their transactions. This is not just a financial challenge; it’s a societal one. And it’s only by working together that we can hope to turn the tide.

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The penultimate weekend of November 2024 is upon us and, while the US' Thanksgiving celebrations are still a week away, the world's best streaming services have served up a delicious feast of new movies and shows to enjoy over the next few days.

There have been so many new films and series released this week that my colleagues and I have struggled to whittle down this list to just seven entries, too. Indeed, whether it's HBO's new crime thriller Get Millie Black or two other new Netflix movies in Joy and The Piano Lesson, we just couldn't fit everything into this week's streaming recommendations guide.

But enough chatter! Grab some snacks and settle in for a session or three in front of the TV after a long week. Enjoy! - Tom Power, senior entertainment reporter

Arcane season 2 act 3 (Netflix)

Have you got your tissues handy? You'll need them, because the final three episodes of Arcane season 2 will likely break our hearts. With Arcane's second season bringing the award-winning animated series to a close, too, there'll be no more chapters to enjoy after they're released on Netflix tomorrow (Saturday, November 23).

Nevertheless, even though I know it'll be a bittersweet end to one of the best Netflix shows ever made, I plan to enjoy Arcane's last hurrah as much as I can. I haven't watched act 3 ahead of time, either, so I'll be tuning in with the rest of you to see every jaw-dropping moment as they play out. Before you stream them, read my Arcane season 2 act 2 ending explained piece to remind yourself what happened last time out. Then, take a deep breath – you'll need to! – and hit play. See you on the other side, everyone.

Tom Power, senior entertainment reporter

• Watch Arcane season 2 act 3 on Netflix

Blitz (Apple TV Plus)

A highly-anticipated historical war drama by Steve McQueen, Blitz is one of four new Apple TV Plus movies and shows we're excited to stream in November. Set in London during World War II, nine-year-old George (Elliot Heffernan) is evacuated to the countryside by his mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) to escape the Blitz. Determined to return to his mother, George embarks on a perilous journey back home as Rita goes on a desperate search to find him.

There's no doubt that Apple TV Plus is home to an array of high quality content – I mean, it was crowned TechRadar's Streaming Service of the Year for this very reason. Some of its best Apple TV Plus movies have attracted an array of A-list actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Jennifer Lawrence, and Tom Hanks. Now, Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan is set to put on another astounding performance in the period drama Blitz. I'm getting the tissues ready!

Grace Morris, entertainment writer

• Watch Blitz on Apple TV Plus

Spellbound (Netflix)

One of November's many new Netflix movies Spellbound follows Princess Ellian (Rachel Zegler), the young princes of Lumbria who goes on a quest to save her family after a spell transforms her parents into monsters.

Ahead of my press screening (keep an eye out for my full review this weekend), I was expecting it to be your average children's animated fantasy. However, I left feeling surprisingly emotional at the film's moving message that many families will appreciate. Indeed, Spellbound, which may have enough about it to join our best Netflix movies, is a heart-warming and magical adventure set in a vivid world that's perfect for all the family. Oh, and there's some catchy songs to get you dancing!

Grace Morris, entertainment writer

• Watch Spellbound on Netflix

Cruel Intentions (Prime Video)

When it comes to '90s teen dramas, Cruel Intentions was one of the biggest movies of the time. Its story of bored, scheming step siblings (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe) at an elite school who try to seduce a new student (Reese Witherspoon) as part of a twisted bet is not something you'd expect to be remade into a TV show nowadays, but Amazon has done exactly that.

Not many were thrilled by the idea of a Cruel Intentions TV remake, so it's probably not surprising that the new series has a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 22% since it landed on Prime Video. While it won't make the cut for one of the best Prime Video shows, the original movie is available for free on Amazon Freevee in the US, plus Prime Video in the UK and Australia. It might not have a great critical rating either, but it does have an incredible soundtrack.

Amelia Schwanke, senior entertainment editor

• Watch Cruel Intentions on Prime Video

The Sex Lives of College Girls season 3 (Max)

If you're looking for more elite student college drama, then season 3 of The Sex Lives of College Girls, which was part of everything new on Max in November.article, is out now, too. The first episode of the returning comedy series debuted on Max on Thursday (November 21), and new episodes will air weekly from then on until January 23, 2025.

For those unfamiliar with its premise: this teen series follows roommates Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), Bela (Amrit Kaur), Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) and Leighton (Reneé Rapp) studying at the fictional Essex College. It's been a hit with audiences and critics alike, and has 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the best Max shows.

Amelia Schwanke, senior entertainment editor

• Watch The Sex Lives of College Girls season 3 on Max (US only)

Making Manson (Peacock)

There's always a great deal of intrigue when a new true crime documentary airs. Recently, Netflix has led the charge with movies like Woman of the Hour and the latest in Ryan Murphy's Monsters franchise. If you're in the mood for something similar, then, Peacock is bringing us up close and personal to one of America's most notorious killers: Charles Manson.

This docuseries is described as "offering unfiltered insights into America's most notorious killer, Charles Manson. Through 20 years' worth of never-before-aired conversations, those closest to the case have their views challenged". So, it should be a very interesting watch, featuring clips of the man himself and those who knew him. If you prefer your crime fictionalized, though, I highly recommend Peacock's horror series Hysteria!.

Lucy Buglass, senior entertainment writer

• Watch Making Manson on Peacock (US only)

Alien: Romulus (Hulu)

Alien: Romulus has made its official streaming debut! Well, on Hulu, anyway – if you were too scared to see it in the theater, then, not to worry, because in your living room no one can hear you scream from behind your cushion. As I suggested, it's bittersweet news, though, because the latest Alien film doesn't have a Disney Plus release date yet. Fans in other territories will have to wait a little longer for an at-home release, then. But hey, at least the sci-fi horror franchise's first TV show, aka Alien: Earth, is set to simultaneously land on Hulu and Disney Plus in mid-2025.

Those of you in the US are in for a treat, however, as Alien: Romulus is one of my favorite entries in the franchise. In my opinion, it's just as good as Aliens, and people on Rotten Tomatoes are inclined to agree, given its glowing 80% rating.

If you are in the mood for a good scare and you're not in the US, you can check out 7 sci-fi horror movies on Hulu, Prime Video, and more for some eerie, out of this world entertainment.

Lucy Buglass, senior entertainment writer

• Watch Alien: Romulus on Hulu (US only)

For more streaming recommendations, read our guides on the best Disney Plus shows, best Hulu shows, best Paramount Plus movies, and best Max movies.

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