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Cybersecurity Today, we'd like to thank Material Security for sponsoring this podcast. Material Security provides faster, more complete detection and response for email identity and data threats inside Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. You can contact them at Material Security.
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Welcome to a special edition of Cybersecurity Today. Over the last couple of months, we've been talking a lot about fraud and in particular about Meta. This comes in the wake of a fantastic Reuters story that just won the Pulitzer Prize. In that story, they talk about how Facebook allegedly took in, knowingly, $16 billion worth of revenue, about 10% of their global ad sales, from known scammers. We had a chance to talk to Aaron west, one of the world's leading scam fighters, about what she's seen since the last time we've talked to her, her thoughts on the terrifying rise in numbers and impact and Meta's role in all of this. I think the show is going to leave you with a lot to think about, and there's a powerful call to action that we can all be part of in this vital fight against online crime. So, Aaron, so good to see you. And you have been incredibly busy. And I kind of want to set the stage because the IC3 report for the year is out and Canada's equivalent is out. But I'm curious, before I say what the numbers are, what's your read on where we're at right now?
C
I was just speaking in Calgary two days ago, and so I did the research on Canada's numbers as well, and here's what I'll say. I don't think it even matters what the numbers are. I think what matters is the trajectory. And it's exactly the same. And if you look at it, we're not looking at a gradual slope up. We're not looking at it just getting worse and worse every year. We are looking at a cliff since 2022. Since 2022, it's almost straight up. Year on year, it's doubling. We've got a major crisis here. So, yeah, I know the numbers. I know the numbers are 21 billion in the U.S. i attribute, I attribute 10 billion of that to the scams coming out of Southeast Asia and, and more all over the world. And those as. David, those are the numbers that we know. Those are the ones that people are reporting. So I say 1 in 1 in 10 reports. So we're looking at 10 billion times 10 is $100 billion US alone, 2025 alone. We've just never seen anything like this kind of theft.
B
And I genuinely think the 1 in 10 or even the 5% report rate is high. And the reason I say that is when we had the lab host bust here in Canada and they went back and did the analysis of what was reported versus what they actually hit for Canadians and it was closer to 1% saying it's insane.
C
And I can tell you anecdotally, there's six people in my immediate range who have been hit by a scam, some worse than others, and not one of them is reported. People don't want to. People don't want to acknowledge that this happened to them.
B
So you are in the trenches in the global fight against online fraud. Is, are you feeling any progress, any hope? What's your read on the ground right now?
C
Thanks for asking. I think that we need to celebrate the wins. And we are seeing wins. What we're seeing is when I go into rooms now and I ask if people know what pig butchering is in law enforcement and banking, financial institutions, there's a much greater concept of this crime, where it's happening and who is behind it. And there is definitely more acknowledgement that we can't fight this alone, that we need to be sharing information. But I think, and let me also acknowledge the good work of the treasury in sanctioning and identifying the bad actors and the good work of US DOJ in making some arrests, indicting Chen. That's a major Cambodian kingpin responsible for this. And there's been some, some really incredible butterfly effect waves from that. But what I'll also say is that the. Just as we're getting better, the bad guys are getting better. And I think their trajectory is way higher than ours. I think they are mo. They. Yes, there's been some shutdowns in Cambodia, but I don't know that we can say that has actually dramatically impacted the amount of scams that are being done. We know these people are moving. We know they're on the move. We know they're going to Myanmar, to Laos, and to new places like Sri Lanka and Madagascar. And so we also know that their tech is only getting better and better. And people love to talk about AI but this really is a place where they are crushing with AI. In fact, they don't even need as many people as they once did because they can have computers running these scams and conversing day in, day out. So what I would say is, yes, we are getting better, we are uniting, but they're getting better faster than we are, and we're still not even close in the race. They're still lapping us.
B
So it's about. About a year ago, you were chatting with Jim, and it was our first chance. And you and I had first met at rsa, and you gave this phenomenal presentation. And. And I was blown away. And I was blown away in part by. For those listening or watching, the long list of law enforcement that came up to see you and talk about how they enjoy working with you and the impact it's having. So it was incredible. In the time since we last chatted over the last 12 months, what have you learned that's impacted you the most?
C
That is a great question. Gosh, I'm tr. Well, there's some obvious ones to me, Everybody knows that I am not always a ray of sunshine about what's happening. It's my job to point out where things are really bad and call them out. And what I will tell you is really bad is Meta. And I think 12 months ago, I knew they were bad, but I didn't realize until I sat down with Jeff Horowitz, who just won the Pulitzer for his exposure of what's happening inside Meta. I didn't realize I hadn't seen evidence that Meta had been. Meta is on alert of how much money they are making from scam ads. They're making 10% of their revenue from scam ads. They know it. They talk about it. They are. They have determined that is a number they're okay with. They know the source of the finances that are behind these scam ads. They know it's coming from China. And so I don't think I realized a year ago. I never liked Meta, but I didn't understand how complicit with knowledge they were and how reluctant the rest of the world is to stand up to Meta. Quite frankly, I'm. I'm really surprised that I'm one of the very few people that is calling them out on a regular basis. And I think that there's plenty of opportunity for the rest of the world to gang up and say, enough, Meta, you're making my life miserable. I'm law enforcement and you're making my life miserable. I'm banking and you're making my life miserable. I'm crypto, and you're making my life miserable. And unfortunately, it still hasn't happened. And it's exhausting to know that they know and this is their choice.
B
For those listening, that. That Reuters reporting, the number we're talking about is $16 billion. And I think the part that floored me was finding out that when they know, you're a scammer, they charge you more money.
C
Yes.
B
And I thought how meta that the scammer gets scammed by me. And so trust me, if it gives you any consolation, I am up here in Canada calling them out. Whether it's the need to keep it up kids and teens off of the new tobacco or the needs to hold them accountable for this. And to me, and I'm curious for your thoughts on this Aaron, is that if we require banks to know your customer for all of the reasons around international money laundering, fighting fraud, fighting organized crime, why does big tech get the largest hall pass in human product accountability industry?
C
Honestly, it looks to me like they've bought their way out of it. They've got so it on. And which isn't that interesting because isn't that exactly how the scammers are allowed to operate in Cambodia? Right. They've bought their way out of it. That's how they get. That's how they're allowed to operate in Myanmar is they paid the armed militia enough to make that happen. And I think if we really want to be honest about what's happening here, Meta has greased Meta has made it pleasant for certain states to for they've brought business to certain states. They have, they've made large contributions. I don't think anybody was surprised when at the inauguration of the president in 2025, standing next to him was big tech. And some of those big tech operators are very much the people that are benefiting at some scale from this. We had Elon Musk as a close ally of the President for the first year. Elon Musk is supplying the very means of moving the, the telco that that's how they're getting. So what we have is we've a president standing there with villains. The people who are enabling these bad acts to happen are his closest allies.
B
One of the interesting things for me is so as a Canadian and wishing the best for the United States because right now we're in a, we're in an awkward relationship stage. So. But I actually believe in the promise of the American people. And when you look at some of the things that have been confronted in American history, this is all this has happened before. All this will happen again. To quote Battlestar Galactica, the railroad tycoons, Standard Oil, we have done this before. We broke up the power of these large companies. And when you think about the former power of the federal government in the United States that got watered down to break up monopolies and power structures, but then kind of got neutered to look at just this frame of, is it impacting price? None of this has anything to do with price. It has everything to do with cost. On the side, I have some elements of hope. I think we're in a bad spot. I think we're in a bad spot with Meta. And I think politicians eventually have to realize that they're afraid, they are afraid of this company. It's not just about the money that gets pumped into the campaigns and the staff that volunteer. It's, oh God, what if their algorithm suppresses my voter engagement, my messaging, my ability to get reelected? And I think that's real. I think they should be afraid of that. So it is stunning. But it's in fairness, it's not just Meta. Google takes an ungodly amount of scam ad money and is pumping this stuff out. So I guess one of the things I'd ask you is I get the sense we're not going to win this compound by compound in Southeast Asia, that this is going to have to be something bigger.
C
Yeah, I think that I've known since 2022 that when I got my first pig butchering case, 30 year old software engineer lost $300,000 that we weren't going to be Santa Clara county was not going to be able to go arrest the person behind the screen and Santa Clara county was unlikely going to be able to arrest the mule who moved his cryptocurrency down the blockchain. So we have to think of ways that we can be impactful that are not necessarily the ways that we have always operated. In fact, we have to. My phrase, my mantra is what if we could. We need to find ways to make sure that we are always thinking out of the box and we are doing and trying new things. Now I think that I've been on a, I've seen a million panels where people love to say we're not going to arrest our way out of this. But I'll tell you what, when they did indict Chenji, that was a huge deal. That was a major deal. And as a result, China came and extradited Chenji. Changi is just for your listeners. He was a kingpin and held a lot of the compounds in Cambodia and was a close ally of the Cambodian government. So we showed, hey, yes we can. What if we could indict the biggest kingpin? We did it. And so at the end of the day, I think we need to be thinking about not how we're going to end this, but how we are going to make it More difficult, more expensive, more time consuming for these bad actors to do their business. And what that Chenji indictment did is it made everybody move. And that's expensive, that's time consuming, that's difficult. You're going to lose workers along the way. It's going to be expensive to start up new places. And so that's how we need to think about this. And when we think about it, it cannot just be law enforcement. It needs to be everybody at the table and everybody at the table holding each other accountable. It's not just the platforms or telco that's making a significant amount of money out of this. We have to look at crypto and we've got to hold them accountable. What's happening here? Yeah, I'd love to hear your comment, but what's happening is it's really the unregulated pieces of this puzzle that are enabling this to continue at this scale.
B
So one of the policy things I'm fighting for is requiring big tech to know their customers to okay, you, you have a good sense of how much money you're making for fraud. It's not that much of a stretch to prove and force them to prove who you are. And then if they prove that they are criminals, you can't take their money. So that's one. So cutting off the top of the sales funnel is one of the ones. One of the things we've seen some US States doing and we've now have a proposal to do nation, nationwide in Canada is ban crypto ATMs. And I'm really curious, I can see by your smile, for those listening and not watching, it's if provoked a smile. I'm curious for your thoughts on the end of the crypto atm.
C
I hate crypto atms. I've hated them from the outset. I think that they, I have always said I do not see that there is any kind of legitimacy to the work that they are doing. I do not believe that they are a good access point for the unbanked. I don't believe that's how they're actually moving money. I just don't. But I'm also not a believer in banning things full out. And I, I know, I think this will surprise a lot of people, but I think that when we ban things full out, that's when we really get into trouble and we, we come up with workarounds and things that are even worse. I think by at least regulating, monitoring, taking better care to consider them part of the making, making their use. If there really is one One that is compliant with how we do banking. I think at the end of the day business their need for them will dictate if they are pro, if they are appropriately regulated and then nobody uses them, then they will go out of business and the market will determine that we do not need these. I just am not a fan of banning anything outright. But what I will say is I love seeing fewer and fewer of them. I don't have to, I don't have to be liking it. I can love the. And the result is there are fewer people getting scammed in Tennessee and and I am thrilled for that. And did Canada's pass.
B
So it's been proposed as part of the spring economic update and I agree with you is like to say okay, okay, highly regulated federal banks, you can offer crypto ATMs and guess what? If there was legitimate money be made by them, they would be offering crypto ATMs. There's a reason this is a gray market service rated off the side. The only people I think who is going to be sadder than scammers are several Canadian police departments who have 24 by 7 surveillance teams watching various crypto ATMs and have made massive in ways with that because criminals, man, do you think that cops know where the ATMs are? But I'm willing to trade off whatever incremental investigative gains to save one family. And I want to turn to that too because I think for legislators, for the general public, for you know it professionals and others, I think this story is still academic. It's about money and it's about fraud numbers. But Aaron, you've seen the human face of this on both sides. The suffering of the people who have had to work these compounds and the human toll on that side. Are there any stories this year that stand out from you on the human toll that we could make a bit more real for people?
C
Yeah, I think until it hits a friend, family member, you think that this is something that happens to old ladies and they're dumb and lonely and the fact is that's actually not what's happening. It's happening to people in your neighborhood, people that this has happened to and they are not going to say anything to you because maybe they've even heard you say something about being how stupid do you have to be to lose your money. So when I see situations where it's someone that, that looks like me, that could be me that is a victim of a crime like this, that's. Those are the stories that really hit home and. But they're Just getting more and more clever. And one of the ones I've heard recently is a woman. We're seeing a lot more of the celebrity connections and the way they're doing it is maybe you have clicked like on some celebrity profile and then someone reaches out and says, oh, I am with that person's team and we're developing a group of their super fans and would you like to be part of the super fan group? It's a really select group and people are doing it and they're not choosing, they are choosing the big celebrities, but they're also choosing B level, C level celebrities too. And what they're doing is cloning their voice and they're leaving voice messages for people. And I've heard the voice messages and they sound exactly like them. And you have every reason to believe that comedian Matt Rife, who I'd never heard of before six months ago, is leaving you a message and is using your name and is really in love with you. And that's what's happening. And I think the other there's so many pieces of the victim experience from on the fraud side and that is not only have has money been stolen from them, but they really, they were in a dream space and they really believed that they had found someone who was seeing them and getting them and caring for them. And that's a piece of this that I think is frequently misunderstood and a just a reality that we all face with this loneliness crisis that we are in post Covid. It's people really want to be seen, heard, understood, loved, taken care of.
B
We biologically need it. Oxytocin's a thing. We're wired to require connections with other humans. It's what kept us alive. It's part of our biological being and it's so awful to see that preyed upon in this way. I'm excited to share a quick update to you. We're in the process of actually launching our first ever bank education as a platform for their customers. So cyber security awareness education, but delivered to bank customers and so helping them understand where they are, educating them, et cetera, it seems. And the conversations we're having with the banking industry in the United States, a lot of banks, they're feeling it, they're seeing the numbers, they're feeling the numbers, they're seeing the tragedies unfold on the phone in front of their clerks. They're small banks and community bankers and credit unions. They know the victims, they're feeling it. So I feel like you're not going to be as Alone as you've been in some of this fight. And it's not just going to be the law enforcement frontliners anymore. The more of us are stepping up to say we're in this fight too. But I want to go back to Operation Shamrock and end with that because I know you've got many other things to get back onto line about, but what do you need right now for Operation Shamrock? What's the next stage? How can people help?
C
Oh, thank you so much for saying that. I think the. We've done a great job at getting the message out to law enforcement into banking. We need to get that message out to our local friends. And so what we've done at Shamrock is we've developed a train the Trainer project. We've got a slide deck that you can. We do a training every other month where we will teach you the slide deck and we will send you on your way with the slide deck that you can show to your book club or to your church or to your Rotary. We need people on the ground talking about this and we need more literal sharing of information, not just the I'm on a panel and I'm going to talk about a public private partnership. I need you to reach out to me when you are seeing something happen. I spoke with someone yesterday in Wisconsin who was telling me about there's a new one with people getting emails saying that they bought a coffee maker and it goes on from there. But when multiple people are getting emails about coffee makers, I want to start talking about emails with coffee makers. We just need to be better about getting that out. So for your listeners, sign up at Operation Shamrock for our next train the Trainer. Take this slide deck and go and show it to your family. At a minimum, show it to your friends. Even better. And continue to follow us on LinkedIn, repost our stuff, get that message out there. That's the best, best thing that people on the ground can do right now.
B
That's phenomenal. And for folks in the United States in particular, Operation Shamrock is a registered charity.
C
It is. We have 501C3.
B
Perfect. So, folks, let's put our money where our mouths are in supporting this. And I can tell you, Aaron, on my part, although I'm a Canadian, I'm going to send something your way to do my part on that. I really appreciate you taking the time on this and I appreciate because I think we've gone from the start of the interview, which was the numbers are staggering, the criminals are doubling, the suffering is increasing. They're tech adopter AI masters at this and the fight's getting harder. But I think you ended so well with but we're there are more of us than there are of them and this train the trainer and get involved, get off the bench. And it's not about sitting back and judging people as stupid or naive or any of these things. It can happen to any of us because we're all human. So I really appreciate your time today. I so appreciate you out there on the front lines of this. I watch your posts and your updates on LinkedIn and with you all the way in the moral outrage.
C
Love it. Yes.
B
So thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it.
C
It was a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.
B
That's our show for Friday, May 8, 2026. I highly encourage you to check out the Operation Shamrock website@operationshamrock.org and to consider getting involved. Have a great weekend. Our Month in Review show will be this Saturday with our regular panel. I'll be back on Monday with your latest headlines.
A
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Episode Theme:
Meta Allegedly Made Billions from Scam Advertising as Online Fraud Explodes Worldwide
Host: Jim Love
Guest: Aaron West, Scam Prevention Expert and Advocate
In this special episode, Jim Love discusses the explosive growth of online fraud and the disturbing role of major social platforms, especially Meta (Facebook), in facilitating scam advertising. He interviews Aaron West, a globally recognized scam fighter, who shares her front-line insights on the trends, the tech, and the human cost of cybercrime. They highlight staggering new data, Meta’s complicity, government inaction, the role of AI, policy initiatives, and grassroots calls to action. The episode urges listeners to move beyond statistics and to act in their personal and professional circles to combat the cybercrime crisis.
[00:24–03:52]
“Since 2022, it’s almost straight up. Year on year, it's doubling. We've got a major crisis here.” (01:55)
“Those are the numbers that we know. Those are the ones that people are reporting. So I say 1 in 1 in 10 reports. So we're looking at 10 billion times 10 is $100 billion US alone, 2025 alone.” (02:17)
“I genuinely think the 1 in 10 or even the 5% report rate is high.” (03:00)
[03:38–05:53]
“Just as we're getting better, the bad guys are getting better. And I think their trajectory is way higher than ours.” (04:31)
[06:23–10:34]
“I didn't understand how complicit with knowledge they were... They have determined that is a number they're okay with.” (06:44)
“Why does big tech get the largest hall pass in human product accountability industry?” (08:52)
“Meta has greased...certain states... They have, they've made large contributions… What we have is we've a president standing there with villains.” (09:16)
[10:34–16:40]
“We need to be thinking about not how we're going to end this, but how we are going to make it more difficult, more expensive, more time consuming for these bad actors to do their business.” (13:00)
“I hate crypto ATMs. I've hated them from the outset... But I'm also not a believer in banning things full out.” (15:13)
[17:50–20:10]
“It’s happening to people in your neighborhood... they are not going to say anything to you because maybe they've even heard you say something about... how stupid do you have to be to lose your money.” (18:01)
“They were in a dream space and they really believed... they had found someone who was seeing them... That's a piece of this... with this loneliness crisis.” (19:34)
“We biologically need it. Oxytocin's a thing. We're wired to require connections with other humans.” (20:10)
[20:10–23:00]
“We need people on the ground talking about this... For your listeners, sign up at Operation Shamrock for our next train the Trainer. Take this slide deck and go and show it to your family.” (21:24)
“Since 2022, it's almost straight up. Year on year, it's doubling. We've got a major crisis here.”
— Aaron West, [01:55]
“Meta is on alert of how much money they are making from scam ads... They know it. They talk about it. They have determined that is a number they're okay with. They know the source of the finances... they know it's coming from China.”
— Aaron West, [06:44]
“When they know you’re a scammer, they charge you more money.”
— Jim Love, [08:12]
“Why does big tech get the largest hall pass in human product accountability industry?”
— Jim Love, [08:52]
“Just as we're getting better, the bad guys are getting better. Their trajectory is way higher than ours... they're lapping us.”
— Aaron West, [05:23]
“It can happen to any of us because we're all human.”
— Jim Love, [23:36]
This episode exposes the shocking scale and persistence of online fraud and highlights how some of the world’s largest tech companies are knowingly profiting from these crimes. It calls for urgent collective action—by regulators, by tech companies, and especially by ordinary people—to fight back with awareness, policy change, and empathy for victims. Operation Shamrock stands as a concrete entry point for listeners who want to get involved today.