Paresh Dave: Absolutely. The timing of the first announcement of some of these actions was considered suspicious because it was suspicious when these investigations into META and when these cases began to file lawsuits against large tech companies.
Zoë Schiffer: We will take a break. When we come back, we will tell you what you’ve seen on Wired.com this week. Welcome back to the weird valley. I am Zoë Schiffer, Business and Industry Director, Wired. Today, senior writer of Wired, Paresh Dave joined me. Before we go, Paresh, what can you tell our audience what to read on Wired.com today besides the stories we already mentioned in this episode?
Paresh Dave: Yes. Smishing Triad, a scam steals the world’s wealth.
Zoë Schiffer: Are you trying to play online phishing variants?
Paresh Dave: This is a combination of phishing and texting. Smishing, yes.
Zoë Schiffer: Play smish. I got it, got it.
Paresh Dave: I’m sure we all received text messages about “You have to pay this toll fee” or were unable to deliver some packages correctly. Very annoying. I still get them all the time. I don’t know why our phones can’t stop this, but this story by our colleague Matt Burgess talks about how many of these messages (called Smishing messages) originated from this group of cybercriminals and are actually constantly improving their scammer software. Cybersecurity has no advantage here. What I gain is that we will get more and more information before these messages get better. This article is part of the wired series, and The Guide is the most dangerous hack you’ve never heard of. This is dangerous, right? Some people entered their credit card numbers in response to these text messages and stole all their money. This is not very good.
Zoë Schiffer: I felt that after I started connecting, I started to receive messages claiming to be an executive in the company asking me to enter my personal information, which was timely because I just started a new job. I was like, “I don’t know if they text me.” But no.
Paresh Dave: Maybe it was our cybersecurity team who tested us. I have no idea. I have, too.
Zoë Schiffer: They do this from time to time.
Paresh Dave: What about you, Zoe? What do you recommend this week?
Zoë Schiffer: Well, besides your wonderful prewrite about the trial, everyone should read and give people an overview of what we should expect, we also published this morning’s Caroline Haskins, another writer at the Wired Business Table, another New Mexico native who faces federal charges for alleged slamming of Tesla’s showroom. This is part of the ongoing Tesla protest indictment. Attorney General Pam Bondi, as well as Trump and Elon Musk, have called on people who engage in violence against Tesla’s property to be charged with very, very serious crimes. This is the second time we know that FBI terrorism investigators are particularly targeting public opposition from Elon Musk and Tesla. Bondy said the man would be sentenced to 20 years or more even if he had not been convicted. We have a lot of details about the case’s allegations, what we found in the warrant, and it’s a good overview of the situation. Paresh, thank you very much for joining me today.
Paresh Dave: Thank you for having me.
Zoë Schiffer: That’s our performance today. We will link to all the stories we talked about in the show notes. Make sure to check out Thursday’s episode Incredible valleyit’s about surveillance technology, protests and how to safely browse physical and online spaces at this moment. If you like what you heard today, make sure to follow our show and rate it on the podcast app of your choice. If you want to have any questions, comments or suggestions, please write via [email protected]. Kyana Moghadam and Adriana Tapia made this episode. Macro Sound’s Amar Lal mixed this episode. Pran Bandi is our New York studio engineer. Jordan Bell is our executive producer. Chris Bannon, the global audio leader in Condé Nast. Katie Drummond is the global editorial director for Wired.
