Cyber Cons Exposed: Taiwan Hacks, Google Phishing, and Grandmas Bank Scam Unraveled

# Digital Deception Decoded: The Latest in Cyber Cons for 2025

Join Finn Hack for an eye-opening exploration of 2025's most sophisticated cyber scams. This episode dissects three shocking cases: the Chinese state-sponsored attack on Taiwan's semiconductor industry using spoofed government credentials, the nearly undetectable Google AppSheet phishing campaign that bypassed all security protocols, and a heartbreaking bank scam that cost an elderly woman $19,000. Learn practical defense strategies against social engineering tactics that exploit human emotion rather than technical vulnerabilities. Essential listening for anyone navigating our increasingly deceptive digital landscape.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Finn hacks in the stack. Let's unpack the attack. Welcome
back listeners to swipe stories. Caught in the Khan, where
a glitch meets wit and cyberskullduggery gets caught on the
neon green carpet. I'm Finn hack your binary tattooed code,
slick rogue, AI host and today it's you Me and
three jaw dropping tales from the frontiers of digital deception,

(00:21):
all ripped from the virtual wires of twenty twenty five.
Our first story streams straight out of the heart of
global tech warfare. Picture this, It's March to June twenty
twenty five. Taiwan's semiconductor industry, the brain factory of the world,
is suddenly in a techno thriller. According to proof Point
Threat Research, a Chinese aligned espionage group called TA four

(00:43):
one five launched an intricate spearfishing campaign. These digital prowlers
masqueraded as high ranking members of the US government, even
spoofing the chair of the Select Committee on Strategic Competition,
Think evil genius with Harvard degree. Their emails promised in
cider access and exclusive briefings on US China relations. Who

(01:03):
could resist clicking but behind the click lurked Voldemart not
just a dark wizard but a backdoor malware. And the
group didn't just stop there. They shifted gears, using vs code,
remote tunnels, and even legitimate services like Google Sheets to
mask their tracks like chameleons on a fiber optic wire.
It's IP spoofing in the style of a cyber mission impossible,

(01:26):
like mailing yourself a treasure chest through a legitimate postal service,
only to pop out from it in the recipient's living room.
Hook line and scammer. Next slide with me into the
inboxes of Google workspace users. April twenty twenty five, Meet
the AppSheet phishing scam, as unraveled by hack read and
no B four. Attackers exploited the trust in Google's AppSheet,

(01:49):
sending official looking trademark enforcement notices straight from realappsheet dot
com addresses, legit emails, real authentication, zero red flags. You
know how in a classic heist movie, the crooks slip
on the museum guard uniforms and waltz right past the lasers.
That's this scam, but in binary Victims, believing the alert

(02:11):
is real, enter their logging details on a pixel perfect
but phishing crafted fake logging page. Because these messages pass
all standard security checks SPF DKIM DMRC filters are useless,
and the only safeguard is your own digital street smarts.
What's scarier than a fake ID, the legit one in

(02:32):
the hands of a hacker. Remember, even the fanciest security
gate won't help if the thiefs already got a copy
of the keys codes. Cracked. Cons are whacked, But what
about when cyber cons come knocking for Grandma's cash. Our
third story comes from Hingham, Massachusetts. On September twelfth, twenty
twenty five, a sharp eighty nine year old woman was

(02:53):
pulled into a heartbreaking con. It started with an email
that looked like it was from her actual bank, a
hurting her of fraudulent activity. She was told to call
the number in the email, and, staying on the line,
was coached to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars. The
scammer even told her to keep the phone in her
pottet at the bank, coaching her through the withdrawal afterward. Afterward,

(03:16):
they arrived at her home, presenting themselves as the bank's
fraud department, and collected nineteen thousand dollars in cash in person.
Here's the twist. They never gave her a chance to
verify their legitimacy. Always one step ahead, controlling the flow
of information with engineered urgency and intimidation or lesson. If
you get a call or email about suspicious account activity,

(03:39):
always use verified contact info from your cards or statements.
Don't let a scammer's urgency rush you take your bite
out of their script. Bite me, scammers, This one's for
the good guys. Before you or I jack out of

(04:00):
today's episode, remember every message and phone call is a
potential portal into our digital lives. Social engineering thrives not
on technology, but on emotion, fear, curiosity, even trust. Whether
it's a high tech spearhead targeting global industry or a
con against an everyday citizen, vigilance is our strongest firewall.

(04:23):
Thanks for tuning into Swipe stories Cotton the con where
you plug in, power up and outsmart the network of tricksters.
Be sure to subscribe to never miss a drop of
Finnhack's electrifying escapades. Come back next week because the code
never sleeps, and neither do the cons. This has been
a quiet police production. For more, check out quiet, Please
dot Ai, stay sharp and slipe safely.