Identity theft gets a raise.

March 5, 2026·57 min·3 clips

A doctor's paycheck was quietly redirected to a criminal's account after a simple phone call to the help desk.

It begins as bait. The panel opens the follow-up by nudging Joe with a Merriam-Webster post defending irregardless, a word used since 1795 and still somehow built to ruin his day. Joe takes the bait, and the bit lands because the show gives the language complaint just enough room before moving back to scams and security. Then the story gets uglier. The focus shifts to aspiring and self-published authors, the kind of people scammers can reach with small offers that sell the feeling of legitimacy. That is the cruel part. These are not just inbox annoyances. They work because publishing can feel lonely, confusing, and gated off somewhere else. The money may look tiny, but those twenty-dollar hits add up enough to keep the old vanity-press playbook alive, now with AI-driven volume behind it. The panel keeps coming back to the same shape: the scam is less about the writing than about selling someone the feeling that they are finally a real author. From there, the discussion widens. Medical professionals and scientific research communities are getting similar treatment through fake journals with hefty fees and conference invitations that may not exist. Joe knows that version from his Hopkins work. After a real conference publication, he started getting emails from obscure conferences around the world and ignored them. The panel sounds annoyed, not surprised, which fits the subject. The risk here is not one flashy breach. It is a steady little market for professional insecurity. Even academia gets pulled in, with lower-level academics and researchers pushed toward pay-to-play validation by people who know which doubts to press. The sponsor read sits separately. The episode closes with the ThreatLocker pitch, listener feedback request, production credits, and the full Hacking Humans sign-off.

As heard by us

A smart, conversational look at scams that turn professional ambition and status anxiety into attack surfaces.

Identity theft gets a raise is less about stolen credentials than stolen legitimacy: the episode looks at scams that promise recognition to people trying to be taken seriously.

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Why you'd press play

If you want scams, snark, and a dictionary fight in the same commute.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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