"What the Hack?" is the award-winning true cybercrime podcast--the place to hear memorable stories and get good advice. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: [DeleteMe ](https://joindeleteme.com)
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Sep 29, 2026 · 52:06
Worried about AI? Don't trust Flock Security? You might get on a law enforcement list for that. Investigative reporter Daniel Boguslaw explains Big Tech's push to re-label…
Sep 22, 2026 · 49:14
A driver's license breach didn't just leak data—threat actors now have access to a universal key to every identity verification system that relies on state-issued identification.…
Sep 15, 2026 · 40:54
As technology is integrated deeper into classrooms, the lines between education and data privacy have been destroyed by for-profit data miners. This week, privacy advocate…
Sep 8, 2026 · 52:10
Same store, same day, different price. David Dayen takes us on a deep dive into the murky cyberscape of surveillance pricing, we enlist young people to prove it's real, and Grace…
Sep 1, 2026 · 48:06
Fictitious discounts. payday markups. AI setting airfares in real time. Investigative reporter Derek Kravitz, Grace Gedye (Consumer Reports) are joined byDavid Dayen to expose…
Aug 25, 2026 · 48:41
Welcome to the infuriating world of surveillance pricing. Chris "the Producer" Parr created a digital nobody to find out whether companies would charge the new him less. What he…
Aug 18, 2026 · 52:37
Benn Jordan—musician, acoustic scientist, and one of the sharpest minds on surveillance technology—joins 404 Media’s Jason Koebler and the ACLU’s Jay Stanley to trace how…
Aug 11, 2026 · 48:19
A stranger showed up at Anna Nasset's art gallery with a painting called "Marry Me." She said no. He did not get the message — for 15 years. Now Anna trains law enforcement on…
Aug 4, 2026 · 51:40
Coco Berthmann sold a survival story. Amanda Riley sold a cancer battle. Both were lies that raided communities, wallets, and trust. Journalists Sarah Ganim, Karen Given, and…
Jul 28, 2026 · 55:50
Fake screenshots. Burner numbers. Forged emails. A stalker who somehow always knew what a 15-year-old was wearing. Blogger Cathy Holman thought she knew everyone in her tiny…
Jul 21, 2026 · 46:57
Aaron Parnas is the Walter Cronkite of Substack. He has millions of followers who follow him on every platform to get his just-the-facts reporting, but even the most trusted…
Jul 14, 2026 · 48:41
Cybercrime expert Gary Warner joins to discuss Nigerian confraternities, the "campus cults" rooted in idealism that morphed into a multi-billion dollar transnational organized…
Jul 7, 2026 · 52:35
Ethan Merritt is an WTH alum, but the last time he was on the pod he was the target. This time, he asked for it: Find four flags using only publicly viewable data. Social media…
Jun 30, 2026 · 45:56
A teenager rage-hacks a Tetris leaderboard and becomes a millionaire by 18. Now Tal Kollender breaks into companies for a living—and fixes whatever made that possible. We talk…
Jun 23, 2026 · 44:59
Marketing visionary Seth Godin explains how the Internet got hijacked by an attention-stealing spam economy that keeps us in an endless loop of badly targeted marketing. Godin's…
Jun 16, 2026 · 43:04
A retired Army Colonel becomes the unwitting face of thousands of romance scams. Bryan Denny has been breaking the hearts of people he's never met for years. What do you do when…
Jun 9, 2026 · 45:04
She said her name was Clara Harper from Chase Bank. She argued with a police officer. She needed gift cards. Brian Ward shares the three times his 85-year-old father got scammed…
Jun 2, 2026 · 51:02
Craig doesn't have Facebook. He's not a gamer. He builds things, fixes things, grows things, has an assortment of antique chainsaws. So why is his name, age, address, and phone…
May 26, 2026 · 46:46
A former military guy goes viral, but not in the way he'd hoped. With fake profiles popping up by the dozen using his photos to scam lonelyhearts out of money, Ethan Merritt did…
May 19, 2026 · 47:02
The ACLU's Nate Freed Wessler won Carpenter v. United States and changed how the Fourth Amendment applies to your phone. But data brokers found a workaround — and the IRS, the…
May 12, 2026 · 53:02
Suveillance-for-profit bros say they can eliminate crime in America, but what about the Fourth Amendment? This week: a 1950s numbers racket and some real talk with Jason Koebler,…
May 5, 2026 · 49:46
Online fraud isn't just getting smarter, it's getting personal. Becky Holmes, author of "The Future of Fraud," traces con artists from ancient Rome to AI-powered scam compounds,…
Apr 27, 2026 · 45:47
Sen. Ron Wyden, the longest-serving member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the ACLU’s Kia Hamadanchy and Marcy Wheeler explain why the deadline to reauthorize Section 702…
Apr 21, 2026 · 49:19
Data as duh-duh. It's all is out there—indexed, sold, and weaponized. Open source intelligence turns public records into a hacker's playground, your LinkedIn profile is…
Apr 14, 2026 · 47:50
The whisper: A downed U.S. pilot was located by tracking his heartbeat from 40 miles away. Real, or fake news to rattle Iran? Benn Jordan and physicist Chad Orzel help us…
Apr 7, 2026 · 51:39
You’ve heard how the compounds work. This week we go inside one—through the eyes of Small Q, an Ugandan musician who was trafficked in and got out—also: Erin West of Operation…
Mar 31, 2026 · 48:29
Christopher Anderson has spent thirty years in high-stakes situations—war zones, sinking boats, the current White House. What he’s learned about the information people don’t know…
Mar 24, 2026 · 50:26
One of Time Magazine’s Women of the Year and a vocal advocate for diversity in tech, Tracy Chou built Block Party after discovering firsthand that the platforms have no real…
Mar 17, 2026 · 49:56
Jim Clemente built a career reading criminals. FBI special agent, behavioral profiler, Unabomber case, the hit series Criminal Minds. Then someone bought his debit card number on…
Mar 10, 2026 · 50:48
Flock Safety says their cameras have never been hacked. Benn Jordan and Jason Koebler watched themselves on one from their homes. This week: a deep dive into the vulnerabilities,…
Mar 5, 2026 · 26:29
No deep fake here. This week, Al Franken does his own impersonations of Bernie Sanders, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Sherrod Brown and Susan Collins in this mock Senate…
Mar 3, 2026 · 49:40
Benn Jordan—musician, acoustic scientist, and one of the sharpest minds on surveillance technology—joins 404 Media’s Jason Koebler and the ACLU’s Jay Stanley to trace how…
Feb 24, 2026 · 48:04
Feeling watched? Join us as Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark breaks down the new reality of digital surveillance. From school apps to AI scams, we dive into how companies…
Feb 17, 2026 · 44:39
Online fraud isn’t just annoying. It’s a national crisis, one that may have drained $158 billion from the U.S. economy last year alone. In this episode, AARP’s Kathy Stokes joins…
Feb 10, 2026 · 41:09
MGM lost $100 million in 2023. Then Caesars paid $15 million ransom. A few phone calls shut down Vegas, highlighting the destruction that one fast talker can unleash in a zero…
Feb 2, 2026 · 50:12
This week, we're going to the movies. Virginia Heffernan joins us to talk about Groundhog Day (the movie), surveillance, and why online systems reward repetition over reflection…
Jan 27, 2026 · 46:04
After exposing the scam compounds and human trafficking behind today’s fraud economy, we follow the money, the power, and the few pressure points—from crypto seizures to…
Jan 20, 2026 · 50:47
You’ve seen the scam texts. This week we go inside a global scam economy to expose human trafficking networks, lawless economic zones, and fortified compounds where victims are…
Jan 13, 2026 · 52:19
Bob Lord (Yahoo, DNC, CISA) and Lauren Zabierek (Harvard’s Belfer Center, CISA) don't think cybersecuirty (or lack of it) should be the customer’s problem. Drawing parallels to…
Jan 6, 2026 · 51:59
Former cybercrime kingpin Brett Johnson didn’t just break the law; he built the tools still used by criminals today. He's back for another episode to check in and unpack why…
Dec 30, 2025 · 35:47
In this year-end check-in, DeleteMe’s OSINT expert, Nicholas Olsen, explains just how much of your life is publicly exposed—and why “low-value targets” no longer exist. A…
Dec 23, 2025 · 46:30
From AI regulation fights and North Korean laptop farms to Nigerian campus cults, the human toll of online crime, and the death of online anonymity it's time to review the year…
Dec 16, 2025 · 52:56
A deadbolt clicks. This email, that voice--they sound all right. Then things go sideways. This week, 911 Cyber CEO Marc Raphael joins the pod to explore how AI makes scams…
Dec 9, 2025 · 46:51
How do you stay safe online? (Wrong answers only.) Avoid public Wi-Fi, QR codes, charging stations. Cyber OG Bob Lord (Yahoo, DNC, CISA) wrote an open letter tackling the real…
Dec 2, 2025 · 43:04
Sextortion scams targeting teenage boys doubled this year—and Paul Raffile says the platforms knew it was happening. Learn how Instagram's default settings let criminals to…
Nov 25, 2025 · 29:14
The giant glittering scam and fraud trap of the holidays is here. Beau reunites with former co-hosts Adam Levin and Travis Taylor to talk about about fake websites, why gift…
Nov 18, 2025 · 44:01
Jeff Williams on the business of moving money: who gets blocked, what slips through, and why checking the right boxes doesn’t always mean a win in the nascent AI-powered…
Nov 11, 2025 · 38:04
When a young engineer uncovered a sizeable click fraud situation at Google, he discovered a bigger problem; namely, the perverse ingenuity that drives online fraud and scams.…
Nov 4, 2025 · 47:31
Cybercrime expert Gary Warner joins to discuss Nigerian confraternities, the "campus cults" rooted in idealism that morphed into a multi-billion dollar transnational organized…
Oct 28, 2025 · 41:11
When scammers tried to steal Graceland, it seemed like a fluke, but deed fraud is very much on the rise. Del Denney of the Land Trust Company explains how criminals steal homes…
Oct 21, 2025 · 50:18
Forensic expert Heather Barnhart (SANS Institute) decoded Osama Bin Laden's phones and helped convict quadruple murderer Brian Kohberger. Learn how surviving her own harassment…
Oct 14, 2025 · 44:29
Marketing visionary Seth Godin explains how the Internet got hijacked by an attention-stealing spam economy that keeps us in an endless loop of badly targeted marketing. Godin's…
Oct 7, 2025 · 45:18
A locked account. A call for help. What happened next left Tony questioning everything he thought he knew about the Internet. This week is about trust, technology, and how…
Sep 30, 2025 · 43:46
Former federal prosecutor Tom O’Malley takes us inside the strange, high-stakes world of modern fraud—where victims are presumed guilty, families lose fortunes, and the fight…
Sep 23, 2025 · 50:25
Every click, swipe, and post fuels the data economy. Credit cards, apps, even maps—our lives are scraped, stitched, and sold. It feels like a heist, and sometimes it is. Identity…
Sep 16, 2025 · 43:07
It started with a slow roll of weird emails and phone calls. And then award-winning filmmaker Dan Sturman found himself in the crosshairs of serious hackers. With parallels to…
Sep 9, 2025 · 47:14
Feeling watched? Join us as Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark breaks down the new reality of digital surveillance. From school apps to AI scams, we dive into how companies…
Sep 2, 2025 · 43:41
A fake Microsoft pop-up cost Ken Westbrook’s mom her life savings. But they scammed the wrong family. Westbrook is former CIA. These days he’s sounding the alarm on how foreign…
Aug 26, 2025 · 38:14
In this second installment of our DEF CON two-parter, we talked to SocialProof Security CEO Rachel Tobac about how and why people are often the weakest link in so many…
Aug 19, 2025 · 41:34
At DEF CON’s Social Engineering Village, contestants have 22 minutes to charm real employees at real companies into revealing real details that could lead to a breach. We step…
Aug 12, 2025 · 42:39
Kurtis Minder knows the dark web better than most—and he’s not just watching from the sidelines. As a ransomware negotiator, he’s helped victims talk their way out of seemingly…
Aug 5, 2025 · 33:36
A not-entirely innocent moment at a concert set the internet on fire. But what if that was just a symptom of a bigger problem? New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill, author of…
Jul 29, 2025 · 44:39
Online fraud isn't just annoying; it's a national crisis. Last year alone, it may have siphoned $158 billion from the U.S. economy. This episode features AARP's Kathy Stokes, who…
Jul 22, 2025 · 42:29
Fortune Magazine's Amanda Gerut offers a deep dive into the secret army of remote IT workers funding North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Explore the hidden world of laptop farms,…
Jul 15, 2025 · 45:44
Join Ben Winters, director of AI and Privacy at the Consumer Federation of America, for a front-row seat to the chaotic world of AI regulation where dirty data, aggressive…
Jul 8, 2025 · 34:17
Kristin got scammed because she didn't want to give a puppy mill her business. This classic digital scam has it all: fake breeders, phony shipping agents, and a non-existent…
Jul 1, 2025 · 42:55
If you have never listened to Chris Hutchins explain how to get free travel, you’ve probably been paying too much for your vacations. Turns out, a threat actor was listening to…
Jun 24, 2025 · 32:42
Every part of life that comes in contact with the Internet is tracked, packed and sold to a a seemingly infinite network of data brokers. Caitlin Sarian AKA Cybersecurity Girl…
Jun 17, 2025 · 47:04
Nicole Perlroth’s book This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is a masterpiece on the topic of cyberwar and the zero-day hacks that make it deadly. Join us as we explore with…
Jun 10, 2025 · 42:30
What if your digital footprint made you a target? Jack Rhysider, host of "Darknet Diaries," shares how a fan turned his online presence into a personal puzzle—revealing just how…
May 27, 2025 · 40:26
As technology is integrated deeper into classrooms, the lines between education and data privacy have been destroyed by for-profit data miners. This week, privacy advocate…
May 20, 2025 · 39:41
Ransomware is a type of malware that allows hackers to commandeer data on a device or an entire network. Increasingly, the threat actors behind these crimes set their sites on…
May 13, 2025 · 48:13
We’ve all been there. You see something perfect online, you do all the clicks and then think, “Wait, was that legit?” Scam-lite transactions are the way of the web these days,…
May 6, 2025 · 43:11
From elections to ransomware, CISA Director Jen Easterly breaks down the threats to America’s critical infrastructure and what’s being done to stop them, sharing along the way…
Apr 29, 2025 · 42:19
Think you’re too savvy to get scammed? Author and activist Cory Doctorow explains how we’re all one muffaletta and a malfunctioning jet door away from falling prey to the most…
Apr 22, 2025 · 48:00
What if the biggest threat to your privacy wasn’t some hacker in a hoodie—but a spy trained to infiltrate your life? Former FBI operative Eric O’Neill, the man who took down spy…
Apr 15, 2025 · 47:43
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Apr 8, 2025 · 45:05
AI is everywhere – in the news, on our devices, assisting us, making life easier for us, and for criminals, too, harnessing AI to swindle people more efficiently. What’s next? We…
Apr 1, 2025 · 35:00
Karen Johnson is a catfisher-turned-scam avoidance coach turned–you guessed it–catfishing victim. The scam that got her is a classic, opening the door to a Pandora’s Box of the…
Mar 18, 2025 · 37:23
As a Daily Show correspondent, comedian Roy Wood, Jr. knows a thing or two about fake news and truthiness as well as the truth-and-a-half that is comedy. By skewering the media…
Mar 11, 2025 · 48:54
Max McCoy stumbled on a $47 million swindle that starts just north of the Oklahoma panhandle and bounces to Australia before things get really confusing in a haze of small town…
Mar 4, 2025 · 41:18
Erin West is the Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County, California, and the founder of Project Shamrock. Whether she’s prosecuting eye-popping SIM-swap money grabs or…
Feb 25, 2025 · 41:35
Former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt is on a mission to kill Section 230, the legal shield that lets social media giants profit from chaos. If engagement-driven…
Feb 18, 2025 · 39:46
Kara Swisher has been covering Silicon Valley since the early days, and she’s made a ton of enemies the old fashioned way (by telling the truth about the new robber barons of our…
Feb 11, 2025 · 44:18
Privacy expert Jen Caltrider reveals how those shiny new AI gadgets with their mind-bending tech—not to mention the social media apps capturing every moment—are a privacy…
Feb 4, 2025 · 26:44
No deep fake here. This week, Al Franken does his own impersonations of Bernie Sanders, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Sherrod Brown and Susan Collins in this mock Senate…
Jan 28, 2025 · 39:38
Ever wonder why facial recognition is so accurate? Well, one reason is the shocking amount of personal data it needs (think: all the world’s snapshots), and that’s why Vermont…
Jan 21, 2025 · 41:37
From cyberbullying to harmful algorithms, the risks are real. This week, Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal join us to discuss their bipartisan bill—the Kids Online…
Jan 14, 2025 · 53:38
Kristen Bride’s 16-year-old son died by suicide after being cyberbullied on Snapchat. Setting her sites on anonymous messaging apps that intentionally traumatize children, Bride…
Jan 7, 2025 · 40:20
Ava Smithing was eleven when she saw a swimsuit on Pinterest that she liked. That innocent click turned into an eating disorder. How? This episode explores the most dangerous…
Dec 31, 2024 · 50:08
We look back at the internet’s scariest moments, the boldest defenders, and the most surprising tech twists of 2024—groundbreaking legislation, international scam-rings, and the…
Dec 24, 2024 · 40:36
Chester Frilich lost everything to scammers, and he didn’t just lose his money—he lost hope, too. Bob Sullivan joins us to recount this devastating case, revealing the IRS’s…
Dec 17, 2024 · 43:08
What happens when social media platforms prioritize engagement over safety? How do drug dealers exploit apps like Snapchat to target teens? Amy Neville lost her son Alex to…
Dec 10, 2024 · 35:39
Tarah Wheeler lost her security badge. Deviant Ollam picked his way into "secure" spaces. Together, they show how humans make or break security and why layering defenses is key…
Dec 3, 2024 · 42:30
What if your digital footprint made you a target? Jack Rhysider, host of "Darknet Diaries," shares how a fan turned his online presence into a personal puzzle—revealing just how…
Nov 26, 2024 · 44:33
This holiday season, privacy expert Jen Caltrider reveals how those shiny new AI gadgets under your tree with their mind-bending tech—not to mention the social media apps…
Nov 19, 2024 · 48:00
What if the biggest threat to your privacy wasn’t some hacker in a hoodie—but a spy trained to infiltrate your life? Former FBI operative Eric O’Neill, the man who took down spy…
Nov 12, 2024 · 41:35
Former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt is on a mission to kill Section 230, the legal shield that lets social media giants profit from chaos. If engagement-driven…
Nov 5, 2024 · 46:41
From elections to ransomware, CISA Director Jen Easterly breaks down the threats to America’s critical infrastructure and what’s being done to stop them, sharing along the way…
Oct 29, 2024 · 49:23
Adam, Beau, and Travis are joined by Mozilla’s Jen Caltrider to uncover the hidden dangers of the Internet of Things (IoT), showing how everyday devices—like smart glasses, baby…
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