Meta allegedly made billions from scam advertising while online fraud explodes worldwide.

Jim Love

08 May 2026

In this special edition of Cybersecurity Today, David Shipley speaks with scam-fighting expert Erin West about the global fraud crisis, the rise of AI-powered scams, and why traditional law enforcement may be falling behind. Cybersecurity Today would like to thank Material Security for supporting this podcast.  Material security provides faster, more complete detection and response for email, identity, and data threats inside Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.  Contact them at  material[dot]security  From David's discussion with Erin West: The numbers are staggering. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported more than $21 billion in cybercrime losses, but experts say actual losses could be dramatically higher because most victims never report fraud. Other key points of their discussion: Why pig butchering scams continue to grow globally How criminal operations are moving from Cambodia to Myanmar, Laos, Sri Lanka and beyond Why AI is making scam operations faster, cheaper and harder to detect The controversy around Meta and scam advertising revenue Why crypto ATMs remain a major fraud tool How cloned celebrity voices are being used in romance and impersonation scams Why banks, law enforcement, governments and tech platforms must act together How Operation Shamrock is trying to fight back through public education This is not just a story about money. It's about organized crime, industrial-scale fraud, and ordinary people being manipulated through trust, loneliness, and increasingly sophisticated technology, featuring scam-fighting prosecutor and Operation Shamrock founder Erin West. #Cybersecurity #Scams #Meta #OnlineFraud #AI #Cybercrime #PigButchering #CryptoScams #FacebookScams #CybersecurityToday