Name’s Scotty, your friendly neighborhood scam nerd, and the last few days have been a playground for crooks. Let’s start with the big trend: according to F‑Secure’s June 2026 cyber threats bulletin, criminals are abusing trusted Google services like AppSheet and Google Drive to send phishing links that sail right past some email filters. That means a link that “looks Google” is no longer a free pass. If a “Google invoice” or “drive share” shows up out of nowhere and asks you to log in, treat it like a live grenade. Type the address into your browser yourself; never trust the link in the message. MIT Technology Review just reported on a black market on Telegram where scammers sell “bypass kits” to fool facial recognition and liveness checks used by major banks. Think fake faces, deepfake video, and scripts that walk crooks through hijacking accounts that were supposed to be protected by selfies. So, listeners, if your bank ever offers extra security like hardware keys or app-based tokens, use them. Face alone is no longer the fortress it used to be. Here’s another hot scam vector: invitations and events. Data Doctors on WTOP have been warning about scam invitations that look like wedding sites, conference tickets, or VIP parties. The giveaway is what they ask for: real invites don’t need your Social Security number or full banking info, and they definitely don’t demand deposits via Zelle or crypto just to “hold your seat.” On the phone side, U.S. police blotters this week are full of arrests tied to elder financial abuse rings. Community credit unions and groups like BrightStar Care are pushing people to watch for “urgent” calls claiming a grandchild is in jail, the IRS is outside, or Medicare is about to cancel coverage unless money is sent right now in gift cards or wire transfers. The rule I teach: if urgency goes up, trust goes down. Hang up, look up the real number, call back. Email impersonation is still a monster. Security blogs like VIDA describe business email compromise where crooks spoof the CEO and tell accounting to “wire funds today for a secret acquisition.” If you work with money, build one sacred rule into your life: any change in payment details must be confirmed using a known-good phone number, never by replying to the same email thread. Rapid-fire defenses: enable multi‑factor authentication everywhere, especially on email, banking, and social. Use a password manager. Keep your phone and laptop patched. And when in doubt, apply my favorite three-step filter: pause, verify with a second channel, and only then proceed. Thanks for tuning in, listeners, and don’t forget to subscribe for more scam‑proofing with Scotty. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta