Cognitive Heist series #2: The Bait Man

Welcome to part 2 of the Cognitive Heist miniseries: The Bait Man 🗝️ He doesn’t pick the lock. 🚪 He doesn’t sneak in the back. 🪝 He just leaves something shiny on the ground and waits for you to pick it up. Enter "The Bait Man": the scammer who lets your own curiosity or greed do all the work. Part 2 of Cognitive Heist explores: 👉 Why bait-based scams (phishing, “found” USBs, QR traps, honeytexts) work so well 👉 The irresistible psychology of forbidden knowledge and too-good-to-miss offers 👉 A chilling parallel with the Nazi gold train legend—possibly the most expensive “nothing” in history 👉 The ancient myth of Pandora’s Box... and what it says about modern clickbait 👉 And as always: tentacles, noir, and cognitive traps. In other news: 👉 The FAIK Files: Climbing Through the Context Window Audio version: https://pod.link/1771521321/episode/3ec38fa7cd599b26e3c7fde25651a3f0 YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ntZlQ4Lbkw 👉 Research Paper of the Week: Project Vend-- Can Claude run a small shop? (And why does that matter?) Anthropic's page discussing the experiment Business Insider P.S. -- Just a quick reminder that I've got a great book out that's all about deepfakes, disinformation, and deception. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already: https://ThisBookIsFAIK.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices