Last year Australian’s were scammed out of $2.74 billion dollars, that’s an insane amount of money.

The scary thing is that scammers are innovating at a speed that’s authorities are finding impossible to keep up with. And they are now using AI in scary new ways like using AI to fake the voices of family members to scam people for money.  Smart well educated people are now getting targeted and caught out.

In this episode of the Customer Smarts podcast I explore the dark world of scamming with Tracy Hall. Her story is like something out of a horror film. Tracy is an ex client of mine when she was Head of Marketing at Ebay. She’s super smart and someone who I never would have thought would become a victim to fraud that would rob her of her life’s savings. Her story has been featured in the channel 7 documentary “King Con, The Life and crimes of Hammish Mclaren”. The podcast series “Who the hell is Hammish?” and she’s also written a book “The Last Victim” detailing her harrowing experience.

She’s now dedicating her time to helping prevent other Australians from getting scammed, which is truly inspiring.

So, in this episode we’re going to dive into

1. Tracy’s unfortunate fraud story
2. The 2.7 Billion dollar scamming industry you need to know about
3. How scammers are using AI in scary new ways
4. How to protect yourself

Tracy’s book The Last Victim it’s a fascinating read, if you’re looking to become more aware about scamming then it’s a great book. She also does thought provoking keynotes and workshops tackling issues surrounding financial resilience, empowerment, security and wellbeing. Info on her book and her speaking engagement can be found here if you’re interested https://tracyhall.com.au/

Host Bio - Justin Stafford has spent the last 20 years working on digital transformation and CX strategy projects all around the globe with brands like Samsung, Virgin, Lexus, eBay, PayPal, CommBank and even the Air Force.

You can connect with me on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-stafford-cs/ If you’re looking for help in the customer strategy & experience design space go to www.customersmarts.co