
Catfishing: Where is the catch?
Clickbait, a Netflix limited series, tells the story of Nick Brewer who went missing and then suddenly appeared in a viral video where a bloodied Nick holds handwritten signs confessing to abusive behaviour towards women. The video showed and promised that he would die once the video reached five million views. In Nick’s case, someone else’s false online persona led to his eventual death. His co-worker, a lonely older woman, Dawn Gleed, had stolen his photos and created fake profiles on dating sites to feel excitement after experiencing years of boredom in her marriage.
Cryptojacking: make sure your computer is not "hijacked"
We are all very familiar with the concept of hijacking – both carjacking or truck-hijacking – where at least 20 923 carjackings and 1741 truck-hijackings occurred between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 (SAPS, 2022). The question though is how many of our readers have heard about cryptojacking? It is a crime which people will, at first glance, associate with cryptocurrency and some form of theft/robbery, or the theft (hijacking) of cryptocurrencies.


The darker side of Artificial Intelligence
In March 2019, criminals used Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven software to replicate the voice of a prominent executive within a corporation to illicitly obtain a sum of €220 000. The CEO of a UK-based organisation believed he was engaged in a legitimate telephone conversation with the leader of the company’s German branch. During this conversation, the impersonator skilfully simulated the identity of the CEO and urgently demanded the immediate transfer of €220 000 to a Hungarian supplier.
Virtual kidnapping: A quick money-making scam?
When Jennifer DeStefano, a resident of Arizona in the USA, received an unexpected call from an unidentified number in January 2023, she was unaware of the distress it would cause her. Upon answering the phone, she heard what appeared to be her 15-year-old daughter, Briana (Brie), in a state of panic, desperately seeking help. Mrs DeStefano recalled: “I could hear her saying, ‘Mom, these bad men have me. Help me. Help me. Help me.’ Just recalling it gives me chills.”
