AI has lowered the bar for impersonation

AI has lowered the bar for impersonation

A few days ago, Fauzia Burke received an email from an author asking to confirm whether the person they'd been corresponding with was really Fauzia Burke — or someone else using her name. In this case, someone had created a website using content from her own website and was emailing authors from a Gmail account pretending to be her. The author did the smart thing: she stopped, went to the official website, and reached out through the contact form instead.

The warning here is plain and useful: verify the email address, not just the name, and use the person’s official website instead of relying on links in an email.

Gobble's Take: When impersonation gets this polished, the safest habit is still the oldest one: stop, verify, and don’t let the inbox set the rules. Source: Perplexity Search

The “pleasant email” scam is getting better at sounding human

An inbox that used to get clunky inheritance spam now gets emails from “Joe, Sally, or Fred,” each “checking in” or “following up.” They know the writer’s name, the work they do, and something about current projects. The result is not a better scam in every way — just a more believable one, for a moment.

In an interview with the "Machine Learning Street Talk" podcast just weeks after his Atlantic piece ran, Dennett put the real danger plainly: we're going to let much "stupider systems beguile us and manipulate us," leaving people either paranoid about who's real or simply tuned out.

Gobble's Take: The scammer’s upgrade isn’t drama; it’s conversational polish, which is exactly why families need to slow down before replying. Source: Perplexity Search

World Cup fraud is spreading the pain into chargebacks

The 2026 World Cup is drawing a much bigger payments problem: fake ticketing sites, travel scams, counterfeit merchandise, streaming traps, hospitality fraud, and account-related fraud. The tournament spans 48 teams, 104 matches, and 16 host cities across Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and that scale is exactly what makes the fraud more attractive.

The practical warning: a fake ticket purchase may happen weeks before a match, a fan may only realize the ticket, hotel package, or livestream is fake on match day, and by then the card issuer is dealing with a dispute trail that started much earlier.

Gobble's Take: Big events compress judgment, and scammers love anything that makes people shop fast, cross-border, and a little desperate. Source: Perplexity Search

Tomorrow: the World Cup-related chargebacks are expected to arrive as the tournament approaches its July 19 final

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