Summary of Day 1: Global Online Scam Summit (GOSS 2021)
To view the talks from Day 2 of GOSS 2021, click here.
Jorij Abraham - The State of Scams
Cybercrime and scams are very much related. The same criminal organization may run shopping scams as well as phishing websites. To fight cybercrime, building consumer awareness about scams is not enough. Jorij Abraham of ScamAdviser shares his thoughts on we can turn the tide on cybercrime.
Foy Shiver - The State of Phishing, APWG, USA/EU
APWG identifies phishing to be the number one threat in online scams and works to affect policies, take down sites, and share information with anti-fraud organizations to protect consumers. Information gathered is shared as it’s found for faster action from law enforcement and prosecutors.
Hieu Minh Ngo - Chong Lua Dao, Vietnam
The phenomenon of Scam Sweatshops in Asia continues to enslave many workers who are drawn in with promises of legitimate work with pay. The sweatshops are modern-day slave camps where workers are held against their will and paid little to nothing for their work while kept locked up in fortified compounds.
Dr. Pavan Duggal - To Scam or Be Scammed, India
COVID-19 job disruptions and losses translate to people going online to make a living - a fact that exposes more Indians to the potential of being scammed. Legal experts face the challenge that there are a lack of laws to govern cybercrime in the country, and also to aid in international collaboration.
Anthony Van Der Meer - BAIT! Scamming the Scammers, Netherlands
A journalist who experiences a scam launches a two-year-long operation to bait the scammer. He installs sophisticated tracking software in a smartphone and loses it intentionally to track and record the scammer’s methods, activities, communications, and locations. The results are just too insightful!
Melissa Trumpower - BBB Institute for Market Trust, USA/Canada
Insights into a free crowdsourced tool, the BBB Scam Tracker, that allows consumers to report scams and check updated data on the scams they are experiencing currently.
Guilherme Martinatti Favaro - Scams in Brazil, Brazil
Social engineering tactics are being used to aid phone scams that end in credit card fraud. These scams continue to rise in Brazil, with marked impunity for known fraudsters who flaunt their ill-gotten wealth on social media.
Dmitry Tuinkin - DarkPath Scammers, Group IB - Europe
Untangling the web of darknet scammers who are more sophisticated and have vast botnet infrastructure to deploy in their cybercrime operations. They collect data on potential victims by creating personalized and highly targeted scams.
Tomasz Struk - Fighting Scams as a Service, EBRAND, Luxembourg
EBRAND carries on with the work of taking down websites and domains through sharing of information with search engines, organizations like APWG and ScamAdviser among others, and also through prosecution in the law.
Perry Roach - Blocking Scammers Before They Scam, Netsweeper, Canada.
Netsweeper uses web filters in coordination with Internet service providers (ISPs) to take down predatory websites especially against children and for consumer protection worldwide.
Raz Abramov - Detect and Prevent, EverC, Israel
EverC uses a web crawler to scan the World Wide Web on preset data points that can reveal whether a site is trustworthy or not. The focus is on eCommerce websites, the products displayed and the payment platforms integrated therein.
Mario Rojas - Mapping Scam Networks Effectively, Maltego, Germany
Cryptocurrency scam networks are on the rise but so are tools to identify them and their web connections.
Christina Mitropoulos - Fraudulent Advertising, AAFA, USA
Fighting cybercrime rings that use social media, Facebook and Instagram, to lure consumers by fraudulent advertising that mimics the legitimate brands in clothing and footwear.
Dr. Augustine Fou - Scams Running Rampant, USA
False online advertisements are used to create a false sense of popularity for scam websites. This leads consumers to such sites which are set up not to sell but to collect data for proper targeting. Scammers even insert inflated data into Google analytics sheets for popular rankings.
Greg Aaron - The Phishing Landscape, Illumintel, USA
An analysis of top-level domains (TLDs) reveals that phishing domains are registered and used immediately, then dumped to avoid being tracked down once used. Making it incredibly difficult to keep track normally yet analysis has enabled detection of these domains.
Panel Discussion - Preventing Platform Misuse
Speakers
- Facebook - Bobby Flaim, Head of Strategic Programs
- Google - Evan Derheim, Security Specialist Team Lead
- Microsoft - Marja Laitinen, Assistant General Counsel, Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) EMEA
- Paypal - Brad Wardman, Head of Threat Intelligence
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Popular Stories
As the influence of the internet rises, so does the prevalence of online scams. There are fraudsters making all kinds of claims to trap victims online - from fake investment opportunities to online stores - and the internet allows them to operate from any part of the world with anonymity. The ability to spot online scams is an important skill to have as the virtual world is increasingly becoming a part of every facet of our lives. The below tips will help you identify the signs which can indicate that a website could be a scam. Common Sense: Too Good To Be True When looking for goods online, a great deal can be very enticing. A Gucci bag or a new iPhone for half the price? Who wouldn’t want to grab such a deal? Scammers know this too and try to take advantage of the fact. If an online deal looks too good to be true, think twice and double-check things. The easiest way to do this is to simply check out the same product at competing websites (that you trust). If the difference in prices is huge, it might be better to double-check the rest of the website. Check Out the Social Media Links Social media is a core part of ecommerce businesses these days and consumers often expect online shops to have a social media presence. Scammers know this and often insert logos of social media sites on their websites. Scratching beneath the surface often reveals this fu
How do I recover my crypto after it’s stolen? What happens if your crypto wallet is compromised? Can stolen crypto be traced, and can police actually recover crypto in 2026? These are the questions most people ask within minutes of realizing their wallet has been drained. Crypto theft is fast, quiet, and unforgiving. By the time most victims notice something is wrong, the funds are already moving across the blockchain. Once seen as a problem for exchanges and whales, crypto theft now heavily affects everyday investors. Phishing links, fake support chats, wallet approval scams, SIM swaps, and malware attacks have become common. Knowing what recovery realistically looks like—and what it doesn’t—can prevent panic, bad decisions, and costly follow-up scams. In a Nutshell Crypto recovery is possible, but only in limited situations Blockchain transactions are irreversible, but stolen crypto can still be traced Speed and documentation matter more than optimism Police and exchanges play a bigger role than private recovery services Guaranteed recovery offers are almost always scams Is it Actually Possible to Recover Stolen Crypto? Yes, crypto recovery is possible, but only under specific conditions and rarely through direct action by the victim. Blockchain transactions are final by design. Once crypto is sent and confirmed, it cannot be reversed. There is no central authority, no chargeback process, and no technical “undo” button, even if the transaction was clearly fraudulent. This is where many people ask whether stolen crypto can be traced. In most cases, it can. Every transaction