Scam-Fighting Cyber Sleuth Reveals Latest Tricks: Phishing, Crypto Laundering, and AI-Powered Voice Scams

Hey, Scotty here — your friendly neighborhood scam-spotter, cyber sleuth, and part-time digital watchdog. Let’s skip the fluff. It’s June 2nd, 2025, and here's your up-to-the-minute download on the latest and wildest in scamland. Buckle up, because the fraudsters have been busy.

So this past week, the big name lighting up the cybersecurity world isn't a tech giant—it's a scammer. Meet Santiago Luna, a 34-year-old from Miami who was arrested on Thursday for running a massive phishing-as-a-service platform. Yeah, you heard right—they’ve Uber-ized phishing. Santiago’s service, dubbed "Hookline," sold tailor-made fake login pages of everything from Netflix to Microsoft 365. Users signed up to deploy these sites and collect credentials. Authorities say he had over 10,000 active clients. Charming.

Meanwhile, British authorities just extradited Naila Ferguson, the so-called “Crypto Duchess,” for laundering nearly $90 million through fake Bitcoin investment platforms. Her scam literally tricked people into thinking they were investing in an AI-run trading bot that “never lost a trade.” Spoiler: it lost everything—mostly other people’s money. The kicker? Her YouTube videos featured rented Lamborghinis and green screen penthouses.

Now let’s talk trending scam tactic: QR codes. Specifically, “quishing”—QR phishing. A couple in Phoenix lost their savings last week by scanning a slick-looking QR code on a parking meter which redirected them to a fake city payment portal. They punched in their card info, and within five minutes had three cash transfers hit their account bound for—you guessed it—Hong Kong. Pro move here: only scan QR codes you completely trust. And no, a sticker slapped on a meter doesn’t count.

Also, be alert for those fake voice scams powered by AI. A woman in Vancouver reported getting a frantic call from what sounded exactly like her sister, begging for bail money. It was a deepfake. The AI cloned her sister’s voice from old social media videos and used it to pull a digital kidnapping hoax. We're entering the age of synthetic scams, folks. Your ears can lie to you now.

So, in short: Never trust links in unsolicited texts. If an investment sounds like it prints money—it prints heartache. Keep multi-factor authentication on everything—including your toaster if possible. Keep your software updated, and for the love of keyboards, don't reuse passwords.

I’m Scotty. Stay sharp, stay skeptical, and if it smells fishy, it’s probably a phishing kit sold on Telegram. Catch you next breach.