Even security-aware journalists aren’t immune to well-crafted social engineering. A New York Times reporter nearly fell for a sophisticated phone scam that combined spoofed caller IDs, legitimate-looking bank numbers, and high-pressure tactics to extract Zelle transfers. The scary part? Caller ID showed the real Chase number, and the scammers had convincing scripts that mimicked actual fraud prevention procedures. Why hack systems when you can just hack humans? The payment rail is part of the problem: New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Early Warning Services, the bank-owned operator of Zelle, in August, alleging that weak verification let scammers pose as trusted institutions and that users lost over $1 billion between 2017 and 2023.
