The security guy and CIA Spy PodBroadcast

And welcome to the Security Guy and CIA Spy Pod broadcast. I am Robert Siciliano and this is Peter Wormka.

Yeah, you almost had it backwards there. You could say the CIA spy and the security guy, that'd be okay, Robert.

That would be fine, actually. Yeah, I would start doing that.

How is everything going up there in Boston?

It's getting warmer. Yeah, and, uh, it's all good, man. I'm going to a 60th birthday party tonight because I am 56 and not— and I hang out with those who are turning 60. So yeah, that's going on in my life.

That's good. These are good years, right? I mean, people concerned when they get up there, you know, in their 60s and above. But I think actually there's a lot of great things. In some ways, I think it's even a better part of our lives than when we're younger. I mean, we maybe don't feel physically as well, but I think there's a lot of other things that are much more fantastic.

Well, I agree, and I appreciate that. And, you know, like, I've got a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old girls, and one of the things that I've been saying to them since they were like little, like little, little, is to know thyself. And, and I— is that like a Shakespeare thing? I'm not really sure.

I don't think it would be.

Yeah, I've been saying that to them since they were little, little, like, you know, and I, and I use examples like You know, I, I remember like being in my teens and I had a flipping splinter in my toe, and I, I remember walking around on that splinter for like weeks. And finally one day I'm like, what is going on with my toe? And I, I pulled up my foot, I look at that splinter, and it was like my, my skin had formed like a ring around that splinter, and the splinter just like just I just popped it right out because my, my body was like, expel this thing. And my mind like dealt with it for all this time, and I didn't even realize what was going on because I didn't know thyself. And I literally like, my body was telling me over and over again, what are you doing? And it was expelling it on its own, and my brain wasn't even recognizing it. And like, that is know thyself. And at my age I got a pretty good handle on myself, and I'm still learning, but I still, like, I have a good handle on myself at this point. And that right there, I think, is a big part of the battle.

Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree 100%. And I think we realized too that, you know, we, we sort of have— we've put value on, on life, on our own lives, and what we have, and, and what we've been able to accomplish, what we still want to maybe accomplish, and Um, you know, it helps us to pause and just appreciate, really appreciate what we, what we have. And, uh, I mean, and knowing that we're going to be moving on someday too, and helping us prepare for that, you know.

So, I mean, in a word, I call that gratitude.

Yes, gratitude. I call it wisdom as well. I think, I really think the older we get, most of us, not everybody, but most of us, the older we get, probably the more wisdom we We have gathered.

Yeah, yeah. And I also know at this stage in my life that, that the moment I think I know everything, I know nothing. I'm still learning, right?

You know, that's right. And we're here to learn today. So what do we have going on?

Oh man, so, uh, real quick. So I got a call from a financial service professional, uh, who's a client of mine client in regards to— I speak to his people, um, occasionally, you know, in regards to all things, you know, cyber social identity and personal protection. And, um, dude, he has a client that was engaged in a $600,000 crypto scam, and him and his wife lost all that money. They thought they made $2.2 million and they went to cash in and the money was just evaporated.

$600,000 in a crypto scam.

Like, this is— guy, this is a guy I know, his client, like a guy, a couple that he knows very well, like he's, he's broke bread with them. And like, they're filing for bankruptcy in their mid-70s. Here's a couple that like all their lives they work, they save, they invested and they thought they were involved in some investment scheme and they lost it all. Like, it just happened.

There's a lot of this happening. There is a lot of this happening. It'll be interesting to see because they're all kind of similar about how they're approached by these people, that it usually starts up as a, you know, a friendship, and they kind of cultivate these people for a period of time. Uh, I think in some cases they might call pig butchering, right? But they cultivated for some time before they start drawing them in. Oh, about this crypto, you know, I made a lot of money on this. Hey, I like to share this with you. So it just— it seems, you know, it doesn't seem— it seems very welcoming, inviting. Someone's, you know, want to share and help me, right? So they happen to trust it. And then, you know, yeah, they can make it look like they're making money. They can give them false fabricated statements showing that their, their investment has, you know, quadrupled. But Yeah, it's all a charade, and so many people are falling for this.

So he's bringing me down to, uh, his offices to speak to his people in response to what's going on with this particular fraud. Um, so I have— and he wants me to speak to it, like what, what specifically happened to this couple and how to avoid it, right? So, and I've done this before, but I'm doing it again, posing as, you know, um, so basically what I've done is is, you know how we get all these, uh, wrong number text, text all the time? So I, I've been responding to them, and, um, I currently have 3 cyber girlfriends.

Well, they think, they think they, they think they are your girlfriend.

Well, you know better. He probably thinks that I am his girlfriend, and, and or his boyfriend, whatever.

Yeah.

And, um, and like one of them is pretty hot, right? And so like my— so I'm in the living room and I'm responding to these WhatsApp messages, and, uh, my wife is like, who are you talking to?

I can just see it.

And I show her the picture, she's like, who's that? It's my crypto cyber girlfriend. And she's like, what? What?

What?

And so I like— and so I'm explaining to her what's going on. And even though I explained to her that this is, this is somebody who was likely being trafficked in, in, in Taiwan— like, was Southeast Asia is where a lot of these, um, perpetrators of these crimes reside, uh, they're, they're boiler room type operations. But the people that are actually doing it are actually being— they've actually been, you know, sex trafficked in some way, like they're being kidnapped. So the person that I'm actually communicating with and is likely being held against their will— does that make sense?

Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, that— there's a lot— there's been a number of reports on that, even documentaries showing these human traffickers. You feel, you know, you got to feel— I mean, you got to feel sorry for the people that are human trafficked and forced to commit crime You know, it's really the people above them that are really the masterminds and the ones that are really doing this malicious, you know, act. But some people in the middle are also, are also victims.

Yeah, so my communications back and forth with, with— she's basically an Australian cosmetics heiress, uh, who also models and dabbles in crypto. And so I've been communicating now with her for a little over a week, and it's, it's a bit tedious. Because, I mean, they know that the goal is to build a trusting, loving relationship with their victims, to, to get them to just trust, trust, trust, trust, trust. And that involves a lot of small talk. And I've been engaged in that small talk, which is tedious as all hell because I don't have time for any of this, but I've been doing it just to like— the end goal here is to get access to whatever crypto investment they have so I can like screenshot it and or take my live audience to it to show them this is actually the scam right here, this is what it looks like. But to show them like the, the text trail, the, the chain, uh, but at the same time to show them live this is what it actually looks like. This is like an AI-generated um, you know, site that, that shows you in real time the money you're making and so on. And I'm actually like gonna probably at some point make an actual investment that I know is going to evaporate. Uh, it'll just be, you know, maybe $50 to $100 and, um, and go with it, you know. Uh, but so, so I will let you know, or, or the, the audience know in the next few weeks what— how it plays out.

Now these were through WhatsApp.

So initially they contacted me via text message.

Okay.

And I responded, you know, like, it's like, it's like the initial message is like, hey, what's going on?

Yeah, right.

And my response is, hey, what's going on with you? And, you know, and it just all kind of played out from there because we know we talked—

I think we talked about this in an earlier episode, but, uh, how a lot of these things are also being done through, through social media platforms like LinkedIn., right? Creating— they create a profile. And there was, there was back in 2009, 2020, I believe, that, uh, there were at least 1,000 fake LinkedIn profiles that were taken down. And they all were pretty much like cookie cutter: attractive young Asian woman who had studied in China, got a job in China, relocated to the United States, got their master's degree from one of 5 different prestigious US universities, and then became programmers or senior programmers for SpaceX. So then they reach out to people, and people like, wow, this person's attractive and very, very intelligent, right? Very intelligent. So when this person gives me advice later on, hey, this cryptocurrency thing is the real deal, and, you know, they end up trusting them. And so, I mean, there's a lot of this going on also through LinkedIn.

Yeah, yeah. And so my Australian, uh, crypto heiress has been, uh, you know, fattening me up, and I've been just nice to whoever this person is because I know that they're just doing a job And ultimately, I have a goal here, and I'm not, you know, um, gonna like belittle them or, you know, be mean to them. And like, I'm kind of conscious of that. And right, I also know that like a little bit of it is, uh, AI-generated too, because you can see like how perfect their responses are and how perfect their grammar is.

Yeah.

So I know like it's all, you know, it's, it's, it's part human, part technology and all that. And so yeah, I'll let everybody know how it plays out. Meanwhile, 23andMe, which is the DNA genetic testing company, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy just over the past week or so due to declining demand for its services and a significant data breach affecting millions of its users. Co-founder Anne Wojcicki resigned as CEO but remains on the company's board. The bankruptcy raises concerns for the future handling of genetic data and 23andMe's 15 million customers. While the company reassures that current data storage and protection practices will continue during the bankruptcy process, experts advise customers to take proactive steps to safeguard their information. So a couple things, Peter, before I— before I give you the floor here. So number one, the data breach that they had. I don't know that it was an actual data breach, so much so that— are you doing something over there? Because I'm hearing some nasty sound coming out of your end, I think.

No, all right, no.

Okay, um, it was like a lot of scratching. So, uh, I think what happened was, from what I recall, because I was called to do a bunch of TV in response to the data breach that it wasn't so much of a data breach than it was credential stuffing. It was a credential stuffing attack where of those 15 million or whatever it was, you know, I, I don't know how many tens of thousands, their data was being stuffed into 23andMe's login servers in order to get access, uh, due to the fact that the same credentials they were using for 23andMe were being used in other websites, uh, for logins, and bad guys took that data and stuffed it into 23andMe and got in in a number of different ways. And 23andMe then had to say, hey, there's been unauthorized access due to the fact that your credentials are used in so many other data breaches. And, uh, yeah, that's how that— I'm pretty sure how that data breach occurred. All that being said, 23andMe is still supposed to be on top of other data breaches. And when their clients' credentials are being used in multiple websites, 23andMe is supposed to send out a notification saying, hey, we've discovered your information that has been used in other data breaches. Your same credentials are being used here. You need to change that stuff right now and/or implement two-factor authentication ahead of any, um, data breach not allowing their clients to log in without two-factor authentication. So I mean, they still hold some level of responsibility for what is considered a breach, even though it's credential stuffing.

That's—

yeah, there's all kinds of recommendations right now for their customers. Peter, what are your thoughts on all this?

Well, you know, people have various reasons why they might share their DNA. They might think, hey, what, what can it— what can be the harm? You might think, oh, there could be, you know, good reasons to provide it, whether it's for research, whether it's for, you know, leaving behind something where you have your legacy, you know, that's— but the danger really lies if there's a potential threat actor who could gain access to this DNA. And I was amazed, I looked this up when I saw this article, how many different companies are involved in DNA collection and research And in addition to 23andMe, there's like 10 other companies. So one of the ones that probably are best known for this would be the, uh, the one that— a lot of— Ancestry, right? Ancestry DNA, uh, is probably one of the ones that has the most people providing their DNA samples to. I mean, it could sound kind of cool on the surface, right? Because you provide that information, and if other people— the more people that do that, the more you're able to actually connect and develop your family history through the use of the DNA. But okay, now what really concerned me more is when I look further into this, of those, you know, total of 11 companies including 23andMe, there's actually, um, 6 that have a Chinese affiliation. All right, uh, for example, 23andMe's affiliation with the Chinese is they have a an investment from Sequoia Capital China, which is a Chinese venture capital firm. Okay, AncestryDNA has a— their parent company, AncestryDNA, was acquired by the Chinese company the Blackstone Group, which has investments from Chinese investors. Okay, Helix, H-E-L-I-X, is a major player in the genetic testing industry as well. And has investors including Illumina, which has been involved in some partnerships with Chinese companies in the biotech space. Then there's Geonomics, also referred to as Nebula Geonomics, which doesn't have a direct Chinese affiliation, but they've been— there's some linkages with them regarding the biotech innovations. And then there's BGI Group, uh, which is a global leader in geon— in genomics research and biotechnology that has an affiliation with MGI Tech. Finally, there's SNPedia, um, which is a Chinese biotech company that, that's also developing DNA testing. And any case, so these are at least 6 companies that do have an affiliation with the Chinese. Which I think, you know, I'm always a little bit more sensitive to the Chinese, as we spoke earlier. I mean, I've been victimized by the OPM hack, which is a considerable amount of information that they've taken from 22 million individuals, and they've, they've hacked a lot of other systems. Now this is one more possibility, right, of collecting DNA from U.S. persons and potentially using it in the future.

Yeah, I I have not done the whole 23andMe thing.

I—

when I saw— when this first came out and it started to make news, I would be called upon by various media outlets as in regards to, you know, the privacy implications of it. And I was like, no. Whenever I'd be asked by a journalist or, you know, reporter or whatever, like, what do you think? I'm like, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm worried enough about giving my, you know, Social Security number out for 10% off at a shoe store. Never mind, you know, my, my, my DNA to a private company that I don't really fully know the implications of that. And over the past so many years since they've been out, not only have we seen, you know, the data breach, but we've seen the connecting of the dots that have been done. As a result of the Ancestry and the 23andMe data being available to people being linked to crimes. Oh yeah, people being linked to, to various, you know, murder scenes and such. And, you know, family members of the actual perpetrators. And in some cases, it's resulted in catching the bad guy, which is obviously, you know, a good thing. Uh, in other cases, you know, it's, it's stained the names of good people that didn't deserve it. Um, so, you know, just providing that level of information, that there's a deep dive into what we call sensitive data that, uh, I'm just not comfortable giving out myself. Yeah, and it is definitely not a need to know. At best, it's a nice to know. And yeah, I'm pretty sure that I'm Italian, last name being Siciliano. I'm pretty sure that, you know, I probably have some African blood in me too, uh, due to the fact that, you know, Sicily and, uh, what is it, West Africa, I believe, you know, not too far away from each other. I could have my geometry wrong there, but, you know, whatever. Um, you know, and interesting, my, my, my stepmom celebrating being Irish her entire life, a few years ago did the whole 23andMe thing and found out that she has zero Irish in her. She's not at all Irish. Yeah, I thought it was pretty hilarious.

So hey, I have a— something just came in and in the mail today, and let me tell you what it is and my observation, or just to point some things out to me, and you tell me if this is a— if this is a scam or could be a scam. I received a letter from an insurance group here in, supposedly in Orlando. The company really exists. I mean, but the, the letter itself comes in and it's just two-page. One is sort of just explaining something about my home, my property insurance, and that they've been able to find— and sure, they give you the quote. They quoted an insurance amount and it's like about a fourth of what I'm currently paying. After I've done a lot of checking about what's available in the market, this is like a fourth of what I'm paying now. And, uh, it's a letter that's— that, you know, has a letter and everything, but it's just like printed out black and white. Okay, it has the name of an individual, but the letter is not signed. It has on the letter the website, and I went to the website, the company exists. It shows on the letter it also has, uh, it's accredited by the Better Business Bureau, BBB. I went there, and in fact, the company is accredited. And, uh, it has, it has, uh, telephone numbers, uh, all of it. But on the website, the telephone numbers are not the same. Okay. And on the website, they have a list of all the people, like the staff of the company, but this individual's name is not listed as, as staff. Okay, so what would you do with that?

I would search how to check if insurance company is real.

Well, I think the company is real. My question is, is this really a representative of that company, or are they using that company to reach out to me, for me to call him on another telephone? You know, this telephone number that they had— he has on the letter is different than on the website. And then being able to— who knows what would they want to do with me once they get me on the phone, right?

So I would search verify, uh, licensing and registration insurance company in Florida, and right there, uh, you go to Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, right, right? And then from there, uh, you search the company name, and we're right here, active company search. And from here you'd be able to get— my guess is the proper contact information. And then all that data that you're seeing from an organic search, uh, could be legit.

Yeah.

And the letter itself, does the letter itself reflect whatever website contact information there might be?

The website, yes. Yeah, but the telephone numbers are not.

Okay.

And the website lists a whole bunch of people that are like working for the company but does not mention this individual.

Yeah, I, I would start with an active company search at, um, companysearch.myfloridacfo.gov and go from there and, uh, contact the company directly and ask them, hey, I got a letter, you know, is this legit? And start from there. That, that, that's how That's the direction I'd go.

Yeah, that's what I did. I just called them, uh, went to voicemail, but I left them, you know, a message to call me back because I said I think there's a possibility here of a fraud. Please call me, um, and we'll take it from there. But yeah, it's— I mean, okay, so what— let's assume that it is a fraud. Could be, right? Uh, and this guy is getting me to call him. He claims to represent this insurance group. What kind of information could he extract from me in trying to say, okay, we're gonna I need this information to come up with a better, you know, give you the best quotes. What information could he pull up and ask of me that I could give to him that could really be detrimental?

So name, address, phone number, email address, physical address of the property. All of that data is relatively public information. I mean, heck, they have your physical mailing address. They know who you are. Um, what could they do with that data? They just, it really just boils down to how much further they could potentially socially engineer you and whether or not you may set up an ACH via your banking account and start, you know, sending monthly payments to this shell company that doesn't really provide any insurance. That's really what that scam boils down to, them getting paid in some way, not, not necessarily posing as you and stealing your identity, but more so getting you to pay into this shell company that provides no services whatsoever. That's where something like that ultimately goes, and that would be a very successful operation for this shell company providing zero insurance.

Yeah, the only thing I found on the, on the internet that links this guy with that company is that someone made a post, you know, someone's recommend— asking for recommendations for, you know, good insurance brokers or agents. And someone— it was actually a— the person that put this up there was— it was not even a picture of a person, it was sort of like a cartoon character that, that made this comment, you know, 'Oh, contact this person from this company because they'll give you a great rate.' I mean, but that kind of thing can also be easily posted by, by someone that's conducting a fraud just to kind of give them some sort of credibility. And also people might call that number.

Yeah, at this point, legit website, legit looking website phone numbers, email addresses. You really can't— we can't trust any of that, right? Even if, even if the information via the letter matches the information on the website, that still doesn't make it legit, right? So the best course of action at this point is to contact the actual government agency that handles the licensing for those entities. Getting the contact information from there. And then from there, even if it's legit in Florida, to the actual, you know, uh, the actual, uh, either state-run or, or, or U.S.-run, whatever it might be at the highest levels, to find out— go, go back as far as you can to the highest levels to find out the legitimacy of it. But before you lay down any banking information.

Yeah, yeah, I'll let you know next time what pans out with this, but I'm really suspicious.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, I'm sorry, I just like— you just came in, I just had to talk about this.

All right, let's, let's finish off with, with the 23andMe recommendations here. So what I would suggest you do, if in fact, you know, any of the, uh, pod broadcast audience has, um, set yourself up with 23andMe, That's fine, no harm, no foul. But we would suggest, you know, delete your account data. This article talks about— you could Google how to delete account data from 23andMe, and Google's Gemini will, will cough up all kinds of recommendations. It's easy enough for you to do. Otherwise, to ensure your genetic information is not transferred to potential new owners, consider deleting. This can be done through your account settings on the 23andMe website. Opt out of research if you prefer that your data not be used for research purposes. You can update your consent preferences in your account settings and request sample destruction. Customers concerned about physical DNA samples can contact 23andMe to request their destruction. Details on how to make this request are available on the company's website. So again, any of you who have done this, that's fine, you know, you— whatever, you did what you did. Not what I would do, but you did it. That's fine, don't worry about it. But at this point, I would probably delete it because, you know, you just don't know legally that, you know, whoever potentially gets access to that data, new company, whatever the case is, um, legally they have a responsibility to protect it. Ethically, morally, they may do things differently. You just don't know. So don't worry about it, but do something about it. There you go.

Yeah. What about, what about traveling to Mexico, Robert?

Oh, Peter. Okay, so Mexico resort claims jailed Michigan couple encouraged other guests to commit fraud amid timeshare dispute. So Mexican resort claims a Michigan couple was arrested in Cancún, which I just came back from, see my lovely tan, and thrown into a foreign maximum security prison on fraud charges, publicly encouraged others to do the same. So Christy and Paul Akiyo, both 60, have been locked up and held without bond in Mexico since they were arrested on outstanding criminal fraud charges while going through customs on March 4th. The couple's children have claimed that they were arrested as retaliation for charges, challenging charges made on an American Express card by the Palace Company. However, the resort chain claims the couple knew what they were doing and allegedly offered to help others do the same. Paul and Kristi Accio fraudulently disputed legitimate credit card charges and publicly encouraged others to do the same, a spokesperson for the Palace Company said. Mexican authorities have also claimed Kristi went against their contract with the resort and spread the word on Facebook about how they committed fraud against the hotel chain, the company said in a press release. The couple is accused of defrauding the vacation company while they had a timeshare membership in— at the resort in Cancún between '21 and '22, disputing 13 charges made on their credit cards totaling around $117,000. They claimed the resort breached their contract, which guaranteed them preferential rates, and they began not receiving certain benefits. Man, oh man. Um, the credit card company ended up siding with the couple. The money was returned, and the membership to the Palace Company was canceled. The company allegedly made a total of 1,570 bookings during their membership, which began in 2016, and would advertise the room for use on Facebook, and they weren't using it according to the Daily Mail. The company says it canceled the benefits and upcoming stays, and they caught on to what they were allegedly doing. Okay, so look, first and foremost, where there's smoke, there's fire. Okay. I don't know if this company did anything unethical and/or illegal. It might have been one or the other, one way or the other. Like, when you buy into a timeshare, there are rules and regs. I bought into a timeshare back in 2003. We just came back from our timeshare, and there's no question about it, timeshare companies are in many ways shady Um, sometimes unethical, but what they do 9 out of 10 times is legal. You may not like the contract that you get into, but 9 out of 10 times it's legal. And it sounds to me like there's some unethical stuff going on here, um, bordering on illegal. Uh, Peter, what is your, I guess, synopsis here and advice?

Well, my biggest takeaway from this is you're right, we don't know. I mean, there's likely something, you know, there could be some gray area here about what actually this couple did. You know, did they break the law? What did they— so there's a whether or not, whether or not they actually broke a serious law, and it's probably not the point here. The point is they went back to Mexico after they knew that there had been a serious case against them, litigation against them. And I lived in Mexico for over 3 years, and I know that the due process in Mexico, it's different than what you find in the United States. We can't go to any country overseas and believe that we're going to be treated the same way as you'd be treated in the United States. The laws are different, the process is different. And what they should have done, and I recommend the this to anybody who's going to travel to Mexico or any other country. If you have had legal issues there in the past, don't assume that there's nothing that's been outstanding. You might— I highly recommend that you have, have someone do a check of the records for you in that particular country to see whether or not your name appears there, whether there might be an arrest warrant open on you. If they would have done this, and it's relatively easy, They're, you know, you could contract a private investigator that has ties, uh, with the investigators in Mexico. They could easily check the databases and they could have, they could have found this out, and then they could have decided whether or not they wanted to go there. They probably wouldn't have gone if they would have found that there was an arrest warrant out there for them. Now it's just, you know, it's just a— it's unfortunate for them in the sense that they're gonna— might be there for a long time.

So 13 credit card charges were disputed, totaling around $117,000. That's significant. That is significant. And then the couple allegedly made a total of 1,570 bookings during their membership, which began in 2016, and would advertise their room for use on Facebook when they weren't using it. Like, they were integrated. In a way that most people who own a timeshare aren't. And it seems that like 1,570 bookings allegedly, like there's something going on there. Like they didn't just go on vacation. This was like a side hustle or their hustle where they, you know, I mean, they had something going on that was way more than just disputing a charge on a credit card. Or not being happy with their timeshare. Like, they would— they did something. There's something going on here.

No, I agree. I'm not trying to defend them at all. I'm just saying that, uh, I hear you.

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, like, look at, you know, like, when I go— when I go to Mexico, um, because, you know, we, we vacation. I mean, it's, it's easy, it's warm, it's, it's right there. It's a 4-hour, 5-hour flight for us. It's no big deal. Like, It's the easiest, warmest, least expensive trip that a family of 4 can take to a place that's on the water, from my experience. And we've been doing it now for 20 years. And I love going to Mexico. It's great. We have a blast. My kids love it. My girls speak Spanish to whoever is serving them or whoever they're interacting with or whatever the case is, cab drivers, whatever it is. You know, the, the staff. It's great, you know, we have a lot of fun. Uh, all that being said, like, like, I, I don't go to Mexico, number one, without making an additional investment in medical care, medical insurance, um, so that if something happens to me or my girls and my honey, um, we are covered medically beyond just regular health insurance. Because if something happens to me, a heart attack for that, for for that example. They're not— they don't take your health insurance in Mexico. They say they will leave you on a hospital gurney to die unless you provide them with a credit card with a $50,000 limit on it, you know, which might mean a few credit cards. So I go to Mexico armed with medical insurance. I mean, I don't know if it's the right terminology to say this, You know, are they in fact considered a third world country?

I would— yeah, I think so, in my opinion.

Yeah, so, so it— so that would make sense, right? And, and they don't want to treat you unless, you know, you're going to pay. I get that. Like, I can't actually hold that against them. And so I go, I go with that insurance, and I go with $50,000. I go with $75,000 in credit cards all the time, every time we go. Just in case, you know, and to get medvacs out just in case, you know, because it's my responsibility. I'm the one that is responsible in case something happens to me or somebody in my family, and I know that, and I'm ready to deal with that. Things are different in Mexico than they are here, and so I go there with that understanding. And, uh, I think that this couple probably you know, had an idea, but they were— it seems to me like, I mean, 1,570 bookings. Like, I book once a year. I mean, they, they had something going on. I mean, that's like astonishing.

Yeah. Another piece of advice or warning regarding travel to Mexico is always, for a long time now, has been do not use random taxis. Make sure that if you're going to, you know, have a taxi, that there's a taxi stand or a radio taxi that's called for the taxi to arrive because there's a high percentage, maybe 40% of the taxis that are on the road are called pirated taxis. They're not paying any fee to the government. They will paint the number of their license on the car. And doesn't mean that they're all bad. Some of them are just trying to, you know, have a side hustle here. But there's a number of them also that will, especially, you know, if they find the right individual, they will take that individual to a series of ATM machines to have them, you know, take all the money out. And I mean, it can get really, really bad. There was actually a case in Cancún about 4 or 3 years ago when there was a couple that had finished their trip and they were getting ready to go to the airport to fly back, and the husband wanted to go get a pack of cigarettes. So you remember that one, right? And he just hailed a random taxi and he asked, you know, his Spanish was pretty weak, but he, you know, he said he wanted to go to a store or whatever. The guy took him to a store, and then when he walked in there, he was, you know, he was, uh, hijacked by 4 people, uh, and they took him out. Actually, they had— they pretty much beat him up. They used the machete, they cut him up. He was like— he was left for dead. He's very— he's lucky that he barely— that he survived. Uh, it was all, you know, because he just took this random taxi to go get a packet of cigarettes despite the advice to the contrary.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, also, Peter, uh, Man, this is a crazy show today.

It sort of is. We're in a crazy world, aren't we?

Yeah. All right, so tell everybody what you got going on.

Well, continue to talk a lot about these type of things as well as counterintelligence issues. I give presentations to groups as well as the organizations. You can find me at counterintelligence-institute.com as well as on LinkedIn. And, uh, yeah, two books: Confessions of a CIA Spy: The Art of Human Hacking and Why Are You Messing with Me? A Senior Survival Guide on Fraud, Privacy, and Security. Those are— both of those are available on Amazon. Yeah, you, Robert?

And I am available at protectnowllc.com. Uh, Peter, I, I, you know, I gotta say, 2025 has been so far my best year in business since 2019.

That's great.

So, and, and here's why I think that's the case. So 2019 was a great year, you know, it was in, in 2020 was on its way to being an even better year. And then obviously COVID hit, and, um, what, what, what then What, what then took hold was number one, they just stopped having live in-person trainings. So that cut me off at the knees. And number two, e-learning basically— check the box compliance e-learning took over. And check the box compliance e-learning not only took over, but those companies have just made bank and their valuations have just skyrocketed. Good for them. And phishing simulation is needed and it's necessary and it's a significant part of security awareness training, especially when it comes to compliance. But the pendulum is swung drastically the opposite direction because it's, it's still getting worse. It's not getting any better. When you talk about $600,000 pig butchering crypto scams, it's crippling. People. Companies are looking at their internal people who are, who are just as affected by those same scams in their personal lives and then being bamboozled in their professional lives by responding to a text message who they think is coming from IT and it's not. Phishing simulation training is impersonal. It doesn't really affect the learner. It doesn't really move the needle in the way that it should should. And so the pendulum is swinging in the direction of live training because these companies are like, yeah, fishing simulation is good, but it's just not really solving our problems at all.

Absolutely right.

Yeah, yeah. So, you know, hey, so I think we'll be busy, we'll be busy for a while, right? Right, right. But, but at the same time, I would, I would be perfectly fine finding another vocation should we solve the security awareness problem.

Yeah, well, that's going to be a while. But me too, we keep on, keep on the good fight though, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you, Peter. Any last words? Last words?

Keep safe and help each other to keep safe.

You're a good guy, Peter. Thank you for what you do.

Thank you.