IT Horror Stories — Real Threats, Real People, Real Consequences | Feat. Jack Smith, IT Horror Stories Podcast

Your phone rings. It's your son. He's panicking. He needs $500. He's stuck and he needs it now.

Except it isn't your son.

It's an AI system that cloned his voice from three seconds of a Facebook video. There is no human on the other end of the line. It's fully automated. And it's been running through a list of phone numbers while you were reading this.

This week, Michael sits down with Jack Smith, host of the IT Horror Stories Podcast and a 30-year veteran of the IT industry, for a conversation that covers everything the tech industry hopes you never figure out. From robo-calls that found his new business number in four days flat, to AI-generated FaceTime calls that look and sound exactly like your family, to scammers showing up at your front door in police uniforms to collect your bank card, Jack has seen it all, lived through some of it, and he's here to make sure you don't have to learn any of it the hard way.

This is not a technical episode. This is a human one.

In this episode:

• Jack's new business website went live and the scam calls started within four days, before a single customer ever called

• Why adults 55 and over are the primary target, and it has nothing to do with being foolish

• Voice cloning in plain language; how criminals steal three seconds of your child's voice from social media and use it to call grandma in a full panic

• How scammers have gone completely local; hiring people in your own country, speaking your language, sounding like the guy down the street. Because sometimes it is the guy down the street

• The bank accountability ruling in Europe that is changing who gets blamed when a pensioner loses $10,000 to a scam, and why North America needs to pay attention

• The IT horror story that proves even a 30-year veteran gets caught off guard, and the one question that saves everything

• The "Uncle Bob" test: the oldest IT security trick in the book, and why it works perfectly against AI scammers right now

• What Jack tells a 67-year-old woman living alone when she asks what she can do tonight to protect herself

• The one assumption every IT professional makes about what people already know, and why that assumption is leaving your audience exposed

• What AI can actually do for people 55 and over, and why Jack calls it "the best intern in the world"

• Jack's closing message to everyone who is exhausted by how fast everything keeps changing; it is not your fault

🎙️ About Jack Smith

Jack Smith is the host of the IT Horror Stories Podcast, a show dedicated to capturing the real, unfiltered stories of the people who built, broke, and fixed the technology infrastructure that runs the world. With 30 years of hands-on experience spanning server rooms in Paris, mining pits in Texas, and everything in between, Jack brings a perspective on digital threats that no textbook can replicate.

Jack is also putting out a call to the Tech 4 Grown-Ups community; if you were working in technology in the 1970s and 1980s, he wants your story. Reach out to him directly, those are the stories that need to be captured before they're lost.

🔗 Find Jack Smith and IT Horror Stories:

• Website: https://www.ithorrorstories.eu

• Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Deezer: Search "IT Horror Stories with Jack Smith" on any major podcast platform

• LinkedIn: Search Jack Smith — IT Horror Stories

• BlueSky & Mastodon: Find all links at ithorrorstories.eu

• Facebook & Instagram: Links listed at ithorrorstories.eu

💬 Join the free Tech 4 Grown-Ups community:

https://www.tech4grownups.com/community

🌐 Website — transcripts, episodes, and free resources:

https://www.tech4grownups.com

Tech 4 Grown-Ups is the podcast for adults 55 and over who want straight answers about the digital world — without the jargon, without the pressure, and without anyone talking down to you. Hosted by Michael Routhier from Toronto, Ontario.

New episodes every week. Some conversations can't wait.