Scammers deepfake CEO’s voice to talk underling into $243,000 transfer

In Cybersecurity, Internet, Technology by BlogLeave a Comment

This is why your company needs TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING to guard against rampant BEC/invoice abuse. $26 billion lost in the last 3 years according to the FBI. CONTACT US! We can help you and it will be a TON cheaper.

Scammers deepfake CEO’s voice to talk underling into $243,000 transfer

Any business in its right mind should be painfully aware of how much money they could bleed via skillful Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams, where fraudsters convincingly forge emails, invoices, contracts and letters to socially engineer the people who hold the purse strings.

The Wall Street Journal reports that some time in March, the British CEO thought he had gotten a call from the CEO of his business’s parent company, which is based in Germany.

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The caller had an “urgent” request: he demanded that the British CEO transfer $243,000 to a Hungarian supplier within the hour. He complied and made the transfer.

 

The Psychology Of Fortnite’s Battle Pass

In Free-to-Play, Gaming by BlogLeave a Comment

Interesting article that digs into the psychology behind a recent use of F2P by Fortnite.

The Psychology Of Fortnite’s Battle Pass

Endowed Progress Effect:

This is something called the “endowed progress effect.” We tend to want to complete goals that we feel we’ve made progress towards, and clever companies capitalize on this by endowing us with some free progress right off the bat.

Artificial Scarcity:

We tend to desire things more when we feel they’re dwindling or unavailable. This is a maxim of social and consumer psychology that shows up in studies on scarcity and related topics like psychological reactance where we want something if we think it’s going to be taken away from us.

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Fortnite does this through its Seasons system. These limited time seasons provide clean breaks where the developers can start and end special community events or themes, but by tying Battle Passes to seasons it also creates scarcity.

 

Michael Hartman giving keynote for Lexington Entrepreneurship Day

In Gamification, Virtual Keystone by BlogLeave a Comment

https://img.evbuc.com/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.evbuc.com%2Fimages%2F63725238%2F315239336%2F1%2Foriginal.20190611-155214?w=800&auto=compress&rect=0%2C0%2C2160%2C1080&s=675b088f8ce7602768a38ea2fd252d4a

Our President, Michael Hartman, will be giving the lunch keynote for Lexington Entrepreneurship Day:

Lexington Entrepreneurship Day is designed to celebrate, support, and learn from some of the greatest entrepreneurs. We’d love to see you at LED to learn more about the local Startup Ecosystem and the players working hard to make sure Kentucky becomes an even better place to innovate.

This day is generously sponsored by Alltech, one of Lexington’s greatest innovative partners!

“Gamification” + Lunch – 11:30am – 1:00 pm

SPARK Founder’s Series” luncheon event –

Michael Hartman – “Gamification & Game Theory – Lessons Learned From 30 years of Video Game Design”

How much are points and miles really worth?

In Gamification by BlogLeave a Comment

Many credit cards have point systems now to gamify their use, and airlines have used gamification for decades via their airline miles programs. Some of these systems are incredibly, and needlessly confusing, but how much are these points and miles really worth?

This article analyzes numerous credit card and airline mile programs and seeks to answer this question once and for all.

What Are My Points Worth?

Five trends in crowdfunding to watch in 2019

In Crowdfunding by BlogLeave a Comment

This article tries to predict some upcoming trends in crowdfunding in 2019.

According to the World Bank’s “Crowdfunding’s Potential for the Developing World” report, the industry is expected to worth more than US$95 billion in the near future.

Crowdfunding has effectively transformed from a practice with limited sources of contributions (mainly charity) purposed to acquire future products to allowing crowd contributors to access profit-making opportunities.

Some of these we’ve already seen attempts at, like equity crowdfunding and a ridiculous proliferation of anything related to cryptocurrencies.

Five trends in crowdfunding to watch in 2019

A look at some innovative customer loyalty programs.

In Ecommerce, Gamification by BlogLeave a Comment

Setting up an effective customer loyalty program is very challenging and requires tremendous experience with the concept of gamification. Understanding customer psychology and use cases is vital. It is also helpful if you can be creative and figure out an innovative wrinkle that sets your program apart.

This article looks at some effective and innovative customer loyalty programs. Perhaps these examples might inspire some creative ideas for your own programs!

10 Examples of Innovative Customer Loyalty Programs