Some people have labelled the recent alliance between Silicon Valley and right-wing populist leaders “techno-fascism”. Is that too strong a term?No, says Jacob Silverman in the latest New Money Review podcast. “What do you call it when the highest levels of the corporate world merge with the executive of the government?” Silverman asks in the podcast. “I think that’s corporatism or fascism.”Silverman is the author of a new book, “Gilded Rage (https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/gilded-rage-9781399419987/)”, in which he chronicles the radicalisation of Silicon Valley.  Focusing on a few central characters—Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, David Sacks and Donald Trump—he poses a question that should concern us all. What happens if the world's richest and most powerful men decide to dismantle democracy?“I think it’s very worrisome,” says Silverman. “We keep on breaching markers—things that haven’t happened before.”Listen to the podcast to hear a discussion of:* The post-9/11 convergence of technology and the security state* How tech firms colluded with Trump to merge corporate and political power* Why the technology of freedom may be incompatible with democracy* Tech titans’ desire for social and physical escape* JD Vance, the tech industry’s man in the White House* The religiosity of Peter Thiel and JD Vance* Rising nationalism and the booming defence tech industry* How cryptocurrency catalysed the Republicans’ resurgence in the US* Cryptocurrency as an accessory to political corruption* How the AI boom was fed by the crypto bubble* Why Jacob sued Twitter—and what happened next* Donald Trump, Jeffrey Yass and the US government’s about-face on TikTok* Social media as the informational battleground of global geopolitics

Long gone are the days when the Escobar family had to spend $2,500 a month (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pablo-escobar-worth-wealth-money-how-much-a8133141.html) on rubber bands to hold the cash they earned trading cocaine.Now, the invention of cryptocurrency has made money launderers’ life a whole lot easier—or has it?Investigative journalist Geoff White joins Paul Amery and Timur Yunusov in the latest episode of Unseen Money to discuss:* Why a New York crypto money laundering case is attracting such close attention* How technology has changed the business of crime* Cryptocurrency mixers and decentralised finance* North Korea and the Axie Infinity hack* The ugly mix of organised crime, state sponsorship and espionage* Sanctions regimes, cryptocurrency stablecoins and dollar hegemony* Hackers, social media and money laundering* Who will run the world’s digital money?

The decentralised finance (DeFi) market is booming—but the world’s best hackers are on a constant look-out for ways to steal your crypto tokens.North Korea, which recently committed the largest theft in cryptocurrency history (https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/preventing-crypto-hacks-best-practices-for-exchanges-hexagate/), is probably top of the hackers’ game. What do crypto users need to know about the risks in this unregulated but fast-growing market?In the latest episode of Unseen Money from New Money Review, Timur Yunusov and Paul Amery are joined by Arseny Reutov, chief technology officer at Decurity, a security audit and ethical hacking firm specialising in DeFi.During the podcast, we discuss:* Malware, ethereum and the recent $1.5bn Bybit hack* State-of-the-art techniques in DeFi hacks* Mixers, cross-chain bridges and the laundering of stolen funds* How North Korea became the world leader in crypto hacks* Ways of detecting flaws in DeFi smart contracts* Who audits DeFi?* Incentives to report, rather than exploit smart contract flaws* Is DeFi security improving?

Most scams where the victim is tricked into paying money to fraudsters originate on social media—often on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.But in the UK

The UK’s company formation process is fast, easy and cheap. The net result of being open to almost any business is that up to half the companies on the UK’s Companies House register may have no legitimate purpose. Instead, those companies are used by fraudsters as a vital tool in scams and money laundering schemes. Many are set up using fake identities and addresses. Often, they break the reporting rules and never file accounts. And Companies House has become a honeypot for organised crime groups from around the world.In the latest episode of the Unseen Money podcast, Timur Yunusov and I are joined by dark money expert Graham Barrow, who has exposed some of the worst failings of the UK’s company formation regime.Belatedly, the UK government is acting to address those failings. But will new legislation (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/56) go far and fast enough? Listen to the podcast to find out.

In the latest episode of Unseen Money, Timur Yunusov and Paul Amery talk about the role of QR codes in scams and whether these popular barcodes may lull users into a false sense of security.Also in this episode:* team Trump's Yemen fiasco, Signal and Telegram* how scammers can mass-blast SMS phishing messages* browser-within-browser attacks and their possible use in scams* why the trend of limiting bank compensation to scam victims was inevitable

There’s a big security loophole affecting plastic payment cards—called a replay (or pre-play) attack (https://arxiv.org/abs/1209.2531). Banks have known about this loophole for years. But they may still blame you, the victim, if a scammer makes use of it.In a 2022 fraud (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12190547/Falklands-war-hero-scammed-20k-holiday-denied-refund-Barclays-forced-sell-medals.html), a former British soldier holidaying in Brazil found that £20,000 had been charged to his bank card in eighteen separate transactions. The ex-soldier, Henry Williams, said he’d only used his card once and that most of the money had been taken from his account without his knowledge.His bank, a well-known British high street name, initially refused to compensate him, arguing he must have authorised all the payments. Only a year later did the bank agree to refund him—partially and with a grudging apology (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13173239/card-scam-holiday-falklands-Barclays-Ombudsman.html).Even after one of the UK’s best-known security experts intervened on behalf of the victim, the UK’s financial ombudsman, which is supposed to settle complaints between consumers and financial services businesses, sided more with the bank.How does a replay attack occur? Most plastic debit (or credit) cards contain a chip which is used to identify and authenticate the user (https://newmoneyreview.com/index.php/2021/08/09/how-safe-are-payment-cards/). The chip comes into action when the user taps the card on a contactless payment terminal (or inserts the card into the terminal and then enters a PIN code).At this point, the payment terminal generates a number that is supposed to be unpredictable, ensuring that each payment transaction is a fresh one. Unfortunately, payment terminals can be tampered with and the supposedly unguessable number can be manipulated. This opens the door to replay attacks—and to more paydays for criminals.As many as half of all payment cards and half of all terminals may be vulnerable to exploitation, says my Unseen Money co-host Timur Yunusov, who demonstrates a card replay attack in this YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCjZI1y_eOc).In the latest episode of Unseen Money from New Money Review, we explore replay attacks: how they occur, why the vulnerability is still there more than a decade after it was exposed, and why the payments industry is so reluctant to address the issue.

 We all now use one-time passcodes (OTPs) to verify our identity online.In the last few weeks, I’ve personally received OTPs from Amazon, Apple, Google, the UK Driving Licence Authority, my pension provider, payments app Yotta, National Savings and parking app Ringgo. Some OTPs were sent to me in text (SMS) messages, others arrived via email.Identity authentication online using OTPs is much safer than using a single piece of information like a password. But OTPs are not safe, for a number of reasons.In the latest episode of “Unseen Money” from New Money Review, security researcher Timur Yunusov and I discuss some recent scams that involved stolen OTPs—from a $2m theft from the family of a Moscow teenager to an industrial-scale carding operation in China.Our story covers the security of mobile networks, tech giants Apple and Google, the business models of criminal masterminds and bagfuls of stolen phones shipped around the world.

The UK prides itself in being open for innovative tech firms—and companies in general—to set up business. It takes only £12—and 15-20 minutes—to create a new company online.But the laxity of the country’s system for new company formations has made the UK a goldmine for scammers. And the problem is getting worse: fraud, much of it digital, now accounts for over 40 per cent of all recorded crime in England and WalesIn the latest episode of Unseen Money, Timur Yunusov and I discuss a recent Financial Times article (https://www.ft.com/content/964d2ffc-804c-4016-8c90-814fec68ecb8) about a London-based fraud victim, Livia Giuggioli Firth, who was conned by scammers into sending £325k from her company’s bank account.Instead of asking for compensation from her own bank for being a victim of an authorised push payment fraud (https://www.psr.org.uk/our-work/app-scams/), Ms. Giuggioli Firth took the unusual step of suing the scammers’ bank in court. This forced the disclosure of the names if not of the individual scammers, but of the network of companies they used to launder the stolen money.The court case unveiled some of the principal weaknesses in the UK’s system for deterring and catching fraudsters.In the podcast, we discuss:* Why the UK is a heaven for digital fraudsters* Why Companies House is still making it easy for criminals* How the fintech and AI booms have fuelled scams* Who’s responsible in the UK for fighting scammers?* How criminals second-guess anti-fraud systems and the need for ongoing due diligence* The role of cryptocurrency in laundering stolen money* Should Zuckerberg and Musk reimburse digital fraud victims?* Why AI-enabled scams are certain to become more dangerousWant to join Timur and me on a future episode of Unseen Money to talk about how scammers use Companies House registrations to aid their crimes? Drop me a line at paul@newmoneyreview.com.

Having your identity stolen is a catastrophe. You can lose your reputation, your credit rating, your money, your home or even be accused of fraud yourself (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/hunter-biden-burisma-ukraine-records-b2596153.html).To victims, ID theft feels like a single, earth-shattering event. But it’s likely that the hacker has been stealing different aspects of your identity over time.Your name, address, email address, phone number, bank account number, passport number, medical records and log-in credentials are all valuable bits of information to hackers. Combined, they may be enough for a digital hit on you and your bank account.In the latest Unseen Money podcast, Timur Yunusov and I explore the “personally identifiable information” or “PII” that enables hackers to impersonate and rob us.PII is now traded amongst fraudsters as a commodity. But what kind is most valuable to criminals? Where do they get it? How do they use it in scams? Once we’ve lost our PII, is there anything we can do?Listen on for more.

In the latest episode of Unseen Money, Timur Yunusov and I discuss how to stop a bad dream turning into a real nightmare: when a phone snatcher has your mobile device and is trying to get hold of your money as well. We cover: * How a phone thief can access your bank accounts* The security of contract and non-contract mobile phones* Best mobile phone security practices and what to keep safe at all costs* Multi-factor authentication and avoiding single points of failure* Stopping a phone theft from becoming identity theft* Face ID or touch ID to authorise payments?* The unevenness of payment apps’ security* Why little can stop the determined hackerWe also refer to these New Money Review articles in the podcast:A phone grabber could drain your bank account in minutes (https://newmoneyreview.com/index.php/2023/05/04/a-phone-grabber-could-drain-your-bank-account-in-minutes/)How safe are payment cards? (https://newmoneyreview.com/index.php/2021/08/09/how-safe-are-payment-cards/)

In the latest episode of Unseen Money, we talk about the recent $4.5 million fraud committed against Ol’ga Serova (https://www.vesti.ru/article/4321170), a 71-year-old former bureaucrat from Samara, Russia. We discuss:* KGB legacy: how Russian scammers play on people’s long-standing fear of the authorities* Greed, fear and social engineering by country: how the weak points of fraud victims vary in Russia, the US and Europe* Big brother in Singapore: new state powers to freeze the bank accounts of potential fraud victims* AML, KYC and Timur’s past struggles to receive his salary into a UK bank account* Fintechs fail: the knock-on effects from the UK’s new compensation rules for victims of authorised push payment fraud* Will new in-app communication channels help prevent payment scams?* Why small, iterative changes in anti-fraud technology are best* Survival of the fittest: why the weakest and least secure payments firms must go under.

Last week UK prime minister Keir Starmer said artificial intelligence could help fix potholes, teach our kids and slash the cost of public services.What he failed to mention is that AI is also a dream come true for scammers. Listen to the latest episode of Unseen Money as Paul Amery and Timur Yunusov discuss how AI-enabled fraud is rocketing and why. 

This is Unseen Money from New Money Review.I’m Paul Amery and I’m joined by my co-host, security researcher Timur Yunusov.Unseen money is our journey into the darker corners of digital payments.For many of us, transferring money is now faster and easier than ever before. It takes a couple of swipes on a smartphone.But with digital payments have come many new opportunities for criminals.Perhaps you’ve suffered from a phishing attack, an ID theft or a cryptocurrency scam.Maybe an online purchase went wrong, but you’re not sure how.We’re here to investigate—and to report to you in non-technical language.In this episode of the podcast, Timur and I discuss the UK’s new rules for compensating people who’ve been tricked into transferring money to criminals.Have the rules deterred the scammers? Or have they just moved on to another type of payment fraud? Listen on for more.

The latest New Money Review podcast focuses on Trump, tariffs, deglobalisation and the currency markets. My guest, Mark Astley, is a former colleague, a currency and fixed income specialist who recently retired as chief executive of asset manager Millennium Global Investments. “We are living in an epochal time in the history of exchange rates and trade policy,” Astley says in the podcast.During the recording, Astley suggests the 53-year experiment with a dollar-based floating exchange rate system may be coming to an end—and he suggests that tariff wars and rising geopolitical turmoil may bring an end to dollar dominance as well.Listen in for a 30-minute discussion of the backdrop and outlook for global currencies. We cover:* The benefits and costs of post-1971 exchange rate flexibility* The great disinflation of 1981-2021 and the recent return to higher inflation* Trump, tariffs, supply chains and interest rates* Which global economies are least and most exposed to a trade war?* Why dollar dominance may end slowly, then suddenly* The breakdown of post-WW2 global institutions* Implications for currency markets, precious metals and cryptocurrencies

In the last decade, the way we make our payments has become more seamless, faster and cheaper. We’ve switched from signatures on paper cheques to a few swipes and a tap on a mobile phone.But with these advances have come massive new opportunities for cybercriminals.From cons using deception and social engineering to romance fraud, unauthorised transfers, hacks and identity theft, the cat and mouse game between scammers and those policing the payments system has now reached a new level of intensity. In the latest New Money Review podcast I’m joined to discuss this topic by Steven Murdoch, professor of security engineering at University College, London.During the podcast, we cover:* Why technologists, lawyers and economists all focus on payments security* How should we treat victims of payments fraud?* Why tricking customers into transferring funds is now the most lucrative payments scam* How limits on customer reimbursement may cause banks to stop pursuing fraudsters* Balancing responsibilities in customer reimbursement schemes* How AI may help payments fraudsters cast a wider net* How the parameters of banks’ online payments systems can feed or starve fraud* Does more secure always mean harder to use?* Cross-border fraud and the reversibility of payments* Cryptocurrency from the perspective of payments security* Telegram and tensions over encrypted messaging networks* The Horizon scandal and the legal presumption of reliable IT systems

When, why and how do countries go bust? That’s the topic of the latest New Money Review podcast, where I’m joined by Greg Makoff, a former physicist, banker, government advisor and now senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.Makoff is the author of a recent book (https://www.defaultthebook.com/) on what has been called “the most contentious default in history”—Argentina’s 2001-2016 debt restructuring.In the podcast, we discuss:* When, why and how countries go bust* What distinguishes a sovereign insolvency from a corporate or personal bankruptcy* Who has jurisdiction over sovereign defaults?* What brings governments and creditors to the table?* Sovereign immunity and the negotiating power between debtor and creditor* What went wrong in Argentina’s debt restructuring?* How Elliott Capital Management made billions on defaulted Argentinian debt* The broader public policy lessons of Argentina’s debt restructuring* China, the IMF and the geopolitics of sovereign debt* Default risk in domestic and foreign currency bonds* Why sovereign debt problems will never go away

Supporters of the $10trn private equity industry say it fuels economic growth and delivers leaner, better-performing companies.One leading critic of the sector is Ludovic Phalippou, who says that the industry routinely overstates its financial performance. And, he says, private equity funds charge a whopping 6-7% a year in fees, wiping out any potential benefits to investors.In the latest New Money Review podcast, I interview Phalippou, who is professor of financial economics at Oxford University. We cover:* What is private equity?* How big is the private equity market?* Why have private equity assets grown fivefold in a decade?* What is the economic footprint of private equity?* How should we measure private equity funds’ performance?* How honest are private equity firms in reporting performance?* Do private equity funds have higher returns than public equity funds?* What do private equity funds cost?* Agency conflicts in the private equity industry* The impact of recent interest rate rises on private equity* The need for standardised reporting of private equity performance.

Want to know what happens when fraud is a core component of your business model?Want to know how a business idea described as an “economic fairytale” could be valued at $300m? Want to know how an unknown cryptocurrency exchange could end up with a $1bn a year marketing budget, rivalling that of Microsoft?Want to know how easy it is to corrupt auditors and journalists with crypto tokens?All this is in Crypto Confidential (https://thehistorypress.co.uk/contributor/jake-donoghue/), a new book by Jake Donoghue that’s coming out in August 2024. I read a review copy, really enjoyed it and have invited Jake to talk to New Money Review podcast listeners.Donoghue describes his book as “a record of the sheer extravagance, excess and absurdity I bore witness to on a daily basis”.In the podcast we discuss:* How an unviable betting start-up could be worth $300m on its first day of trading* Why its founders switched focus from gambling to marketing* Duplicitous tactics, shilling, pumping and dumping in crypto* The confluence of politics and cryptocurrency* Why did the cryptocurrency markets recover after the 2022 FTX/Terra/Luna frauds?* From bitcoin to ICOs, NFTs and memecoins: how crypto has lost touch with its origins* How influencer crypto marketing hit its peak in 2022* When Bybit’s reported $1bn a year marketing budget rivalled Microsoft’s* The innovation of crypto fundraising* Why crypto journalism is an oxymoron* Tether and sanctions evasion* Why crypto projects are jumping onto the AI bandwagon* What next for cryptocurrency?

In the latest New Money Review podcast, I interview Richard Comotto, a specialist in repo, the multi-trillion dollar marketplace used by large financial institutions to borrow and lend money in the short term.Richard, who started his career at the Bank of England, works for the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA), for whom he has authored the ICMA “Guide to Best Practice in the European Repo Market”, its website FAQs on repo and the semi-annual survey of the ICMA European repo market, which has been running since 2000. He has also advised on the development of domestic money and repo markets for bodies such as the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He is also co-founder and chief product officer at London Reporting House, a fintech providing data and analytics on the repo market.In the podcast, we cover:* What is the repo market?* The role of repo in the bond markets* Did repo help trigger the 2008 financial crisis?* The difference between repo and a pledge* The difference between repo and a securities loan* Why repo has largely replaced unsecured wholesale lending* When and how can repo go wrong?* How do central banks use repo?* Is quantitative tightening (QT) the reverse of quantitative easing (QE)?* The effect of blockchain on the repo market* How shorter settlement cycles affect repo* Could central clearing trigger a repo market accident?