John Breyault's guest appearances

John Breyault

Tech Policy Leaders

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Easy Prey

Kevin Clark

Jessica Gonzalez

Kim Scott

Meredith Broussard

Danielle Citron

Jessica Lee

Ron Busby

Matt Wood

Sarah Morris

Rachel Rodgers

Larry Miller

David Robinson

Anindya Ghose

Melinda Epler

Ajit Pai

OwlTail

With financial payment platforms used more regularly to exchange cash between individuals, scammers have become more creative in using them to defraud users. Today’s guest is John Breyault. John is the National Consumers League Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications, and Fraud. As the director of Fraud.org, John is a nationally recognized expert in fraud, with more than 17 years of experience in educating consumers in advocating for stronger consumer protections at the federal, state, and local levels. He is the author of Fraud.org’s monthly Fraud Alert emails and NCL’s bi-weekly Data Insecurity Digest. He has testified before Congress, federal regulatory agencies, and state legislatures dozens of times about fraud related topics. He is quoted regularly in the press about fraud including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Show Notes:  [1:10] - John shares his background and current roles with the National Consumers League. [3:02] - John has been working in consumer advocacy for over 20 years. [4:27] - What are peer to peer payment platforms? Venmo is the most commonly used. [5:53] - The features of peer to peer payment platforms that are attractive to users are also attractive to scam artists. [7:46] - John shares the trends in what scammers have been using to get money through Western Union, Green Dot cards, and gift cards. [9:32] - More needs to be done to make security a priority. [11:09] - John explains the difference between credit card transactions and peer to peer payment platforms. [12:16] - With peer to peer platform fraud, banks can’t do anything about it due to a loophole in the law. [13:38] - When this type of fraud is much more painful to experience than credit card fraud. [14:44] - A huge appeal to these platforms is that they are free. But security needs to be improved. [17:09] - There are a couple of regulations related to the connection of Venmo to a bank account. [19:19] - The responsibility has been put on users and victims to monitor and fight back against fraud. [21:47] - Scammers are very adept at creating a sense of urgency. [23:38] - John shares an example of how this sense of urgency can fool anyone. [24:34] - Cryptocurrency is the next focus of attention for those trying to prevent fraud. [26:40] - These trends tend to follow a pattern. [28:09] - One of the problems in tracking scam trends is the way data is collected. [29:23] - We need to change how we talk about fraud victims. [31:28] - Scams are run as a business these days, which make them much more convincing than in the past. [34:15] - With most overseas scams, the likelihood of getting your money back is slim. [35:50] - As a business, think about how you can make peer to peer payment apps as safe as possible? [37:35] - John shares an example of Venmo transactions that are protected and those that are not. [40:07] - A legitimate business will accept payment in other ways than only peer to peer apps.  Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to  subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.  Links and Resources:  Podcast Web Page Facebook Page whatismyipaddress.com Easy Prey on Instagram Easy Prey on Twitter Easy Prey on LinkedIn  Easy Prey on YouTube Easy Prey on Pinterest Fraud.org National Consumers League Website John Breyault on LinkedIn 

With financial payment platforms used more regularly to exchange cash between individuals, scammers have become more creative in using them to defraud users. Today’s guest is John Breyault. John is the National Consumers League Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications, and Fraud. As the director of <a href="http://Fraud.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fraud.org</a>, John is a nationally recognized expert in fraud, with more than 17 years of experience in educating consumers in advocating for stronger consumer protections at the federal, state, and local levels. He is the author of <a href="http://Fraud.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fraud.org</a>’s monthly Fraud Alert emails and NCL’s bi-weekly Data Insecurity Digest. He has testified before Congress, federal regulatory agencies, and state legislatures dozens of times about fraud related topics. He is quoted regularly in the press about fraud including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Show Notes: <ul> <li>[1:10] - John shares his background and current roles with the National Consumers League.</li> <li>[3:02] - John has been working in consumer advocacy for over 20 years.</li> <li>[4:27] - What are peer to peer payment platforms? Venmo is the most commonly used.</li> <li>[5:53] - The features of peer to peer payment platforms that are attractive to users are also attractive to scam artists.</li> <li>[7:46] - John shares the trends in what scammers have been using to get money through Western Union, Green Dot cards, and gift cards.</li> <li>[9:32] - More needs to be done to make security a priority.</li> <li>[11:09] - John explains the difference between credit card transactions and peer to peer payment platforms.</li> <li>[12:16] - With peer to peer platform fraud, banks can’t do anything about it due to a loophole in the law.</li> <li>[13:38] - When this type of fraud is much more painful to experience than credit card fraud.</li> <li>[14:44] - A huge appeal to these platforms is that they are free. But security needs to be improved.</li> <li>[17:09] - There are a couple of regulations related to the connection of Venmo to a bank account.</li> <li>[19:19] - The responsibility has been put on users and victims to monitor and fight back against fraud.</li> <li>[21:47] - Scammers are very adept at creating a sense of urgency.</li> <li>[23:38] - John shares an example of how this sense of urgency can fool anyone.</li> <li>[24:34] - Cryptocurrency is the next focus of attention for those trying to prevent fraud.</li> <li>[26:40] - These trends tend to follow a pattern.</li> <li>[28:09] - One of the problems in tracking scam trends is the way data is collected.</li> <li>[29:23] - We need to change how we talk about fraud victims.</li> <li>[31:28] - Scams are run as a business these days, which make them much more convincing than in the past.</li> <li>[34:15] - With most overseas scams, the likelihood of getting your money back is slim.</li> <li>[35:50] - As a business, think about how you can make peer to peer payment apps as safe as possible?</li> <li>[37:35] - John shares an example of Venmo transactions that are protected and those that are not.</li> <li>[40:07] - A legitimate business will accept payment in other ways than only peer to peer apps.</li> </ul> Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/easy-prey/id1488678905" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> subscribe to our podcast on iTunes</a> and leave a nice review.  Links and Resources: <ul> <li><a href="https://www.easyprey.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast Web Page</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/EasyPreyPodcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook Page</a></li> <li><a href="https://whatismyipaddress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">whatismyipaddress.com</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/easypreypodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Easy Prey on Instagram</a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/easypreypodcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Easy Prey on Twitter</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/easy-prey-podcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Easy Prey on LinkedIn</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCgy_xKrjiXghSgGFEAFdTQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Easy Prey on YouTube</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/easypreypodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Easy Prey on Pinterest</a></li> <li><a href="https://fraud.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fraud.org</a></li> <li><a href="https://nclnet.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">National Consumers League Website</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbreyault" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">John Breyault on LinkedIn</a></li> </ul>

Fighting Against Fraud with John Breyault

How to spot and stop misinformation with John Breyault (Ep. 244)  How to spot and stop misinformation with John Breyault (Ep. 244) -- John and Joe Miller discuss how consumers themselves can correct misinformation, by weighing in when they see it, rather than relying on tech companies.   Bio   John Breyault is a nationally-recognized consumer advocate with more than 15 years of experience championing the rights of consumers and the underserved. At the National Consumers League, he advocates for stronger consumer protections before Congress and federal agencies on issues related to telecommunications, fraud, data security, privacy, aviation, live event ticketing, video gaming, and other consumer concerns. In addition, John manages NCL’s Fraud.org and #DataInsecurity project campaigns. John has testified multiple times before Congress and federal agencies and is a regular contributor to national press outlets including the Washington Post, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Prior to NCL, John was the director of research at Amplify Public Affairs, where hs supported clients in the telecommunications, energy, labor, and environmental sectors. Earlier in his career, John worked at Sprint and at the American Center for Polich Culture in Washington, DC. A lifelong Virginian, John is a graduate of George Mason University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in International Studies with a minor in French.   Resources:    National Consumers League   Intro   Joe: Hey everybody. Congress can’t get anything done. Now the state Attorneys General are hamstrung by corruption and politics, as they try to execute a serious of actions against big tech.    Real news outlets believe the Department of Justice and various state coalitions are planning to sue Google. The DOJ is expected to focus on Google’s search dominance. The state coalitions are working together with the DOJ, but then again, they’re no,t because many of them believe the DOJ’s moving too slowly. Congress has subpoenaed Facebook, Google, and Twitter. But, of course, Republicans and Democrats rarely see eye-to-eye.   But now we’ve got problems in Texas -- with their Attorney General, Ken Paxton, facing  bribery charges -- accusations his own Deputies alleged in a whistleblower complaint. It’s a litany of allegations claiming that:    He received hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts for his own legal defense fund. What did the people who gave those donations expect in exchange? They couldn’t have given them out of the goodness of their hearts. In that case, why not give it to poor people? Nevertheless, Paxton says these donors are family friends. His own wife, a state senator, introduced a bill to expand his power to exempt individuals from state regulations, which would have set him up to return favors to people. He unilaterally decided that Texas Governor Greg Abbot’s ban of elective procedures due to COVID-19 should apply to abortions. This went into effect immediately, forcing women to cancel their appointments, pending the outcome of litigation arising from this.    The list goes on and on.    So Democratic Attorneys General are calling for Paxton to step down, saying it threatens their multistate investigation into Google’s market practices. Meanwhile, sources expect the DOJ to file a lawsuit in a few days. Why that’s public, I have no idea. You’d think it’d be attorney-privileged. But, frankly, following ethical guidelines doesn’t appear to be part of Bill Barr’s skill set.   To make matters worse, you have a dozen or so other Republican Attorneys General facing similar corruption problems.    Eliot Spitzer must feel vindicated for his little prostitution situation back in 2008. But that was 12 years ago!     Let’s move on, let’s move on.    John McAfee, the namesake of the antivirus software, was arrested in Spain Monday. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges McAfee took $23 million from people to invest in cryptocurrencies he was being paid to promote. But the officials note this is a personal lawsuit, not one against McAfee, the company.   So we’re in this place where politics are holding up anything meaningful when it comes to antitrust enforcement against big tech companies. We’ll see what the DOJ lawsuit says. But, without even looking at it, I anticipate a number of free speech problems that will have to be overcome, and much of the case law has been written by Conservatives.   Related Episodes   ‘Social media policy: It's the moderation, stupid!’ with Chris Lewis Ep. 232(Opens in a new browser tab)   'Health Tech and Communications in Crisis' with Licy DoCanto (Ep. 231)(Opens in a new browser tab)   'They Smile in Your Face: How the Internet is Unmasking Hidden Racism' with Robert Eschmann (Ep. 222)(Opens in a new browser tab)   Ep. 203: The Internet and Racial Justice w/ Charlton McIlwain(Opens in a new browser tab)   Kids and YouTube with Patrick van Kessel (Ep. 197)(Opens in a new browser tab)

How to spot and stop misinformation with John Breyault (Ep. 244) How to spot and stop misinformation with John Breyault (Ep. 244) -- John and Joe Miller discuss how consumers themselves can correct misinformation, by weighing in when they see it, rather than relying on tech companies. Bio John Breyault is a nationally-recognized consumer advocate with more than 15 years of experience championing the rights of consumers and the underserved. At the <a href="https://www.nclnet.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">National Consumers League</a>, he advocates for stronger consumer protections before Congress and federal agencies on issues related to telecommunications, fraud, data security, privacy, aviation, live event ticketing, video gaming, and other consumer concerns. In addition, John manages NCL’s <a href="http://Fraud.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fraud.org</a> and #DataInsecurity project campaigns. John has testified multiple times before Congress and federal agencies and is a regular contributor to national press outlets including the Washington Post, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Prior to NCL, John was the director of research at Amplify Public Affairs, where hs supported clients in the telecommunications, energy, labor, and environmental sectors. Earlier in his career, John worked at Sprint and at the American Center for Polich Culture in Washington, DC. A lifelong Virginian, John is a graduate of George Mason University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in International Studies with a minor in French. Resources:  <a href="https://www.nclnet.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">National Consumers League</a> Intro Joe: Hey everybody. Congress can’t get anything done. Now the state Attorneys General are hamstrung by corruption and politics, as they try to execute a serious of actions against big tech.  Real news outlets believe the Department of Justice and various state coalitions are planning to sue Google. The DOJ is expected to focus on Google’s search dominance. The state coalitions are working together with the DOJ, but then again, they’re no,t because many of them believe the DOJ’s moving too slowly. Congress has subpoenaed Facebook, Google, and Twitter. But, of course, Republicans and Democrats rarely see eye-to-eye. But now we’ve got problems in Texas -- with their Attorney General, Ken Paxton, facing <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-05/texas-bombshell-on-bribe-claims-threatens-states-google-probe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> bribery charges</a> -- accusations his own Deputies alleged in a whistleblower complaint. It’s a <a href="https://dems.ag/statement-from-daga-co-chairs-on-ken-paxton/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">litany</a> of allegations claiming that: <ul> <li>He received hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts for his own legal defense fund. What did the people who gave those donations expect in exchange? They couldn’t have given them out of the goodness of their hearts. In that case, why not give it to poor people? Nevertheless, Paxton says these donors are family friends.</li> <li>His own wife, a state senator, introduced a bill to expand his power to exempt individuals from state regulations, which would have set him up to return favors to people.</li> <li>He unilaterally decided that Texas Governor Greg Abbot’s ban of elective procedures due to COVID-19 should apply to abortions. This went into effect immediately, forcing women to cancel their appointments, pending the outcome of litigation arising from this.</li> </ul> The list goes <a href="https://dems.ag/statement-from-daga-co-chairs-on-ken-paxton/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">on and on</a>.  So Democratic Attorneys General are calling for Paxton to step down, saying it threatens their multistate investigation into Google’s market practices. Meanwhile, sources expect the DOJ to file a lawsuit in a few days. Why that’s public, I have no idea. You’d think it’d be attorney-privileged. But, frankly, following ethical guidelines doesn’t appear to be part of Bill Barr’s skill set. To make matters worse, you have a dozen or so other Republican Attorneys General facing similar corruption problems.  Eliot Spitzer must feel vindicated for his little prostitution situation back in 2008. But that was 12 years ago!   Let’s move on, let’s move on.  John McAfee, the namesake of the antivirus software, was arrested in Spain Monday. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges McAfee took $23 million from people to invest in cryptocurrencies he was being paid to promote. But the officials note this is a personal lawsuit, not one against McAfee, the company. So we’re in this place where politics are holding up anything meaningful when it comes to antitrust enforcement against big tech companies. We’ll see what the DOJ lawsuit says. But, without even looking at it, I anticipate a number of free speech problems that will have to be overcome, and much of the case law has been written by Conservatives. Related Episodes <a href="https://techpolicypodcast.org/social-media-policy-its-the-moderation-stupid-with-chris-lewis-ep-232/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">‘Social media policy: It's the moderation, stupid!’ with Chris Lewis Ep. 232(Opens in a new browser tab)</a> <a href="https://techpolicypodcast.org/health-tech-and-communications-with-licy-do-canto-ep-231/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">'Health Tech and Communications in Crisis' with Licy DoCanto (Ep. 231)(Opens in a new browser tab)</a> <a href="https://techpolicypodcast.org/they-smile-in-your-face-how-the-internet-is-unmasking-hidden-racism-with-robert-eschmann-ep-222/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">'They Smile in Your Face: How the Internet is Unmasking Hidden Racism' with Robert Eschmann (Ep. 222)(Opens in a new browser tab)</a> <a href="https://techpolicypodcast.org/ep-203-the-internet-and-racial-justice-w-charlton-mcilwain/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Ep. 203: The Internet and Racial Justice w/ Charlton McIlwain(Opens in a new browser tab)</a> <a href="https://techpolicypodcast.org/kids-and-youtube-with-patrick-van-kessel-ep-197/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Kids and YouTube with Patrick van Kessel (Ep. 197)(Opens in a new browser tab)</a>

John Breyault: How to Spot and Stop Misinformation