Quando lo Scam Danneggia la Tua Reputazione - Piera Di Stefano

Sorry, I wanted to start my speech with a message that I received just two days ago on Telegram. I don't know if I can, unfortunately I can't show it to everyone from a certain Beatrice who wrote to me. Hi, are you interested in a part-time job? This is obviously part of the classic scheme that is used on Telegram groups. In short, on Telegram, to get people to propose earning opportunities, perhaps through viewing videos on YouTube, so there's all that red tape, in short.

And I am a victim of these too, of these ... to oblivion therefore to the protection of reputation And obviously also to privacy I am a master for data protection I have been registered in the Alba of the same name for 2 years now and privacy officer for about 8 so these are issues Let's say that we tackle 360° As colleagues said previously even the legal figure can no longer avoid knowing in depth completely different but complementary issues to his work to optimize his assistance his representation and crypto scams are a growing risk for investors because And this emerges from the Report on crypto crimes of February 2024 by the company Cin Analysis which is a company specialized in the analysis of all evidence relating to native crypto crimes mainly collaborates with government agencies with law enforcement agencies also Obviously with Europol in Interpol and in particular also in Italy with also with the knic and in this this report is very important because it practically gives the overview of what the trends are even of this type of crime as you can see in 2022 We had the peak of that of the illicit activities through cryptocurrency The overall value of the proceeds deriving from this type of crime has reached approximately 39 billion dollars and then decreased slightly in 2023 It must be said that and they say it they specify all the data they analyze are data on Chain so it is excluded all the crimes that were obviously committed with the funds of the users then transformed perhaps from Fiat currency into crypto then all let's say the illicit cases in which the crypto is a currency i.e. the means of payment such as the purchase of drugs rather than the commission of murders through the latest fact that there was the the seizure of the famous cryptofasia [Music] of who have impressive liquidity And above all they make use then we see the so-called networks of mules to launder money specifically regarding scams through identity theft As we can see here too there is a slight let's say inflection in 2023 but the numbers are truly impressive as you can see even the scams Med the so-called scams romantic than a pig slaughter have reached a truly remarkable peak in recent years and in fact they represent the tactic. The most used technique perhaps to hit hate victims because now let's say there is a clear division in the world of crime.

There are those who aim at the big ones, not the big companies through attacks and so on. And there are those who instead aim at individual users, but in fact this type of scam is allowing criminal organizations to have a significant liquidity. This is why there is truly a very important international structure even if in Southeast Asia, let's say, they have their main base in Southeast Asia where there is a lowering of attention on the protection of human rights. So much so that those who work for these organizations are very often enslaved, they have no freedom at all and try to redeem themselves by dedicating themselves to crime. Obviously, the audience knows all the most common tactics.

Let's say that the Federal Trade Commission with this message, in my opinion, has summed it all up. No, if you see a test message, an email on social media that asks you to pay with cryptocurrencies, it's a scam, it's a fraud, a scam. We talked about the Romance Scam mainly uses, let's say, Staple Coin is mainly being used for this type of scam and this is another fact that emerges, identity theft is another important problem and here there is an indirect reputational impact and I'll give you the case in point. Well, here there is the exact model. These researchers from Stanford University have even studied the model that is followed through fake profiles to defraud the victim.

However, I actually had a case, the case this is a client of mine, obviously whose face was banned by the Dutch Rite who is a well-known financial advisor who found himself the victim of multiple identity thefts. They obviously studied his profile, they saw that he was very close to the advisor, the Broker is very, let's say, pleasant. In short, physicality and they used his image, his name, even his name, the family pictures. In short, everything they could find on the internet to lure women. Now this woman in particular has lost €25,000 but there is another case under investigation of another woman instead of Romania who Around €70,000 was stolen under the guise of, let's say, obviously of my client.

Obviously this has a negative impact on him because he can still be reported on these Telegram groups where he can be reported as a scammer with that identity which is his. No, not with another identity and this obviously creates problems in intercepting these reports. No, because there is a part of the reputation that we are unable to monitor, then there is the scam of the fake VIP. I took these screenshots because I had the announcement, not because I took it, that is, I was browsing on. In short, watching videos on YouTube, I see this announcement, I report it to YouTube, as you can see, these sites.

No, there are, there are, they are sites that do not correspond to the newspapers that they replicate, they are sites that clone La Repubblica, they clone everything. And essentially in these, in these, let's say, announcements, they say, they essentially say that these VIPs were interviewed by some by Cattelan, some by Bruno Vespa, who then revealed that in fact you can earn money in a short time and they are written well in Italian, I have to tell the truth, and then there is a col to Action. Go to this site that It could be that now I don't remember the names of the platforms for investing in Eurax and here too there have been several victims who have Appo then filed a complaint. However, there is a problem with Google on this stuff. It's not that it 's reactive and effective.

I filed the report as a fraud and the site was, let's say, located in the Soviet Union so they couldn't do anything because it linked to a site that was the Soviet Union. And in any case they didn't process my request so Google has a problem. Then we'll also see with Google ADS then this is an even more invasive scam because it's the scam of recovering lost funds. That is, now there are platforms because there are legitimate agencies that help victims recover their funds. These agencies are, in short, certified.

However, the problem is that criminal scammers also use the names of these companies or clone the sites of these companies in this case you see. This is the supervisory body of Luxembourg that reported that there are scammers who use the name of this blockchain company Luxembourg knows that it was closed down and that it was a legitimate blockchain company and they had used all their contact details to be able to further defraud there is the Scam of the Business Opportunity, that is, in short, scams on investments. I don't have to stand here and explain to you that there is an analysis that said that 24% of the tokens launched in 2022 were all Pumps. They all saw this Pump and Dump scheme that has existed since, let's say, the 18th century, we can say the first victim was Thomas Edison, so it's nothing new. This needs to be clarified, it's not that these are scams that were born, that is, they are schemes that actually existed before.

But with cryptocurrencies, obviously, they have increased precisely because the focus is on anonymity and on identity theft systems. There was a shop, an identity shop called Magic Markets, which was closed in April 2023, which practically stole 2 million identities and people could easily connect to this shop via Google, they had the account and were able to remotely take control of the victims' devices through session cookies, a technique precisely through session cookies. So they are They succeeded. But luckily they managed to close it after 9 years of investigations, but they succeeded. The Rip Deal scam actually means that I give you the possibility of changing Fiat money into cryptocurrencies.

In business, we have now had the case of an operation between Italy and Portugal that led to the arrest, then raids and seizures between Italy and Portugal of these finals that actually hooked millionaire victims because they were interested in making real estate investments and they showed up with all false documentation and offered the possibility of investing their money in cryptocurrencies. Obviously, they were all obviously fraudulent platforms and we are talking about damages of around 3 million euros, 4 million euros. But even here, they came for many years to identify the victims. Don B Mule is a hashtag that Europol launched because we know that there are networks of criminals who launder money that is obviously in turn the subject of crypto crimes because they are not able to launder it. This is another, another dynamic that has been going on for a few years.

In fact, here. we have This is the is the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the we have investigations but in short very slow investigations because it must be said that there is all the problem related to the international rogatory, the coordination of the investigations and so on. What are the reputational risks quickly I don't know if you Ionut me stop me when the time then the reputational problems are very important because the reputation is based on the trust of the stakeholders And this trust is based on the credibility of the statements of the company or in any case of the Professional on the legitimacy and responsibility of his actions This is the definition of reputation and it is not and is not an abstract concept even reputation is an asset as much as it is let's say impalpable it is and measurable as and these are the two let's say most important reports that talk about the reputation of a professional of a company or a market the one that really gave a figure to say to consider is the report of web shandwick this company that deals with reputation In 2020 it is the first to have done this type of analysis and has in fact among the hundreds Of the companies that were interviewed, a fact emerged that the reputation of a company determines approximately more than 60, let's say 60% of the market value of that company on the market, therefore the future. What will be the future of the market in general? The differential lever between one company and another, between a professional and another, will be the reputation which is obviously given by the reliability of that person in his past and in his present and above all by his, let's say, online exposure, therefore by the fact that I am in the sector, let's say considered a reliable person, a reliable company because I care.

First of all, I pursue compliance. All previous colleagues have spoken about Micar, no, but the concept is always the same. It is compliance, compliance as a value because I Doo have to F reference to a company that is compliant, that is, what value can that company that is compliant give me? It gives me a series of values ​​that perhaps the consumer, the end user, does not perceive but on the market instead it has a value such as and therefore allows the company to expand, to create partnerships and so on. This report that I recommend you read from Coin cover, which is a company that deals with security in this area.

crypto has put at the center, let's say, as an element that has determined a significant loss of user confidence. In this market, precisely the collapse of FTX, we have the siia here that I said look, you are risking. Eh, on August 9th, the New York court sentenced FTX to pay 12 billion dollars, the largest one you know very well, but this, let's say, this has had an impressive reputational impact on those who were approaching the world of cryptocurrency because this is a world that is being born. No, it is a world for everyone where everyone must be able to approach it. No, this is the ideology, allow me the term, of this world and therefore we must.

That is, we must bring people closer. Obviously, these are scandals that the experts, the experts, are able to classify and decipher. No, because they are. In short, they are problems that exist and are linked to human errors. The human being is not linked to the volatility or otherwise of the market, the internal technical dynamics of the market, but it is clear that the end user.

In short, he is very influenced by this. Lately, we have had this other problem in Canada where the founder has even destined A third of its users' funds go to online gambling, so Canada is also a country where only 3% of the population uses cryptocurrencies, that is, very skeptical and in light of this scandal. In short, the Canadian crypto players are already making efforts to, in short, regain confidence or bring people closer to this world. These are the graphs that really damage, let's say the figure of what I'm telling you, as you can see, more than 40% of those interviewed believe that what could lead to a move away from the crypto world are volatility and financial risks, but above all those of security. Without a doubt, there is the issue of fraud and what?

That is, this question was asked. But what could bring you closer, no, could you gain confidence? As my colleague was saying yesterday, as I was saying yesterday, no. In this world, they talk above all about insurance systems against fund losses. So they talk above all about consumer protection and then also about the entire implementation of security systems because we know well that another big issue is that.

The problem of the crypto world is the problem of cyber security and so on. And as you can see in this other graph, the greatest concern is precisely on the issue of security. In first place there is fraud, first place then everything else and this is even more striking data: technology. What is the technology that most worries me from the point of view that you do n't understand uncertainty, in first place is crypto even before artificial intelligence. So we need to re-establish trust.

I'm done with regulation. These are not my opinions, a simple provincial lawyer. These are the opinions of people who work in this sector who have understood that a regulation, however uniform, is certainly one of the most important levers for gaining trust in this market: the accountability of operators in the sector, the monitoring of customer exposure and the effective fight against criminal use. On this I wanted to tell you another thing, I'll finish: the problem of reputation will be an increasingly widespread problem, especially when systems with artificial intelligence are created that will create false information or in any case worsen the phenomenon of identity theft or manipulation of people's identities, so we are not surprised. In the future, if, as I hope, we reach a certain target, once we have established ourselves in the crypto market, we are known, someone can attack us in this way because this is also a tool of unfair competition, to attack and persecute us.

We have had Garlaschi who, in short, a partner of yours who has done exactly this is reporting on his profile the fact that there is someone who is impersonating him and is using his. Imagine his identity to commit scams and he is there desperately saying it's not me, it's not profiles on profiles, so this will become a problem. There is the possibility of solving it, of course, by relying on computer forensics, lawyers, if necessary. In short, we want to. Which I always recommend because we must always file a report when we are victims of identity theft because we don't know what these people do with our faces, with our documents, and monitor our reputations, also trying to spread the word about this issue through our own channels.

Thank you for your attention. If there are any questions, I'm here. Obviously, the DSA, the Digital Services Act, helps us with social media to block content. No, with this new law. So we should improve.

I hope. There are some questions We have some questions in the audience if I don't ask them Okay then I'll ask you um regarding So it's not really a question it's a reasoning that will lead to a question anyway eh before the advent of cryptocurrencies In short you've been working as a lawyer for many years surely You have you have seen the world born and evolve before cryptocurrencies um [Music] the reports of identity theft of scams maybe on on simply using Fiat currencies with the with the with the birth of the internet were present were more less than cryptocurrencies or cryptocurrencies brought a huge wave of scams of scams of themed theme Yes I thank you for the question So the problem is not cryptocurrencies And then there was certainly a lower incidence of this type of scams from a statistical point of view at a global level but it is clear that social media internet allows you to easily eh take the identity of others but by identity I also mean the image that is we have a crime, article 494, which is the substitution of persons, the penal code, when someone is a victim of these, let's say these fake profiles, the first thing they have to do is to file a complaint for impersonation Then there is the whole problem of laking, that is, someone who accesses your profile and there. Practically it is a further problem, no, it is unauthorized access to the computer and telematics system, which is a very serious crime that is Pito up to 20 years in Italy with the graves, so let's say that it is precisely the Eh the functioning mechanism of social media, these scams are trips, they have traveled. Sorry, mainly through social media, then through, well, even Google ADS, we have seen it, but the problem is the immediate verification of the identity of those who obviously we are in the sector. So it is clear, now this, mha.

Call Beatrice, this one writes to me, I say, it is clear that it is a fake, she is not a woman and she is not interested in my number, my account. How, how does she know how she was able to contact me. So there is obviously someone in my network who has been, let's say, why not, not, certainly, certainly. Well, I am of the opinion that our numbers, numbers are now within huge databases in the Deep Web. Absolutely.

But the face is different. That is, you understand, and they are easily this person this client of mine how did it happen how did they take screenshots of his profiles because he is a consultant he has a public profile obviously no I don't think not private public so one tries to let's say promote himself they took screenshots they modified them they added additional let's say captions so he doesn't have that is you don't you shouldn't be there because the possibility that someone steals your image at that moment I mean but then he received a series of calls he was contacted morning afternoon and evening he was contacted by the Dutch police I mean he had some serious problems also on a personal level so you shouldn't underestimate It is always necessary to report and then if you have visibility communicate through your own channels what is happening and then report to the sites No not I mean if you have been the victim of a scam you must report it also report it to the sites that are online for example in America there is that site of the scammers on Forex which is an impressive thing Dun there are many many sites where you can report but the first thing is definitely to file a complaint or to the postal police if it is a crime via the internet or to the police station but you have to start protect yourself and then protect the market because then from this comes the protection if there are other questions I'm here thank you thank you for the answer Thank you Thank you Piera a round of applause I could also be tomorrow I propose this prop tomorrow someone could say that it's me good Excellent thank you again if we're done for today And we'll continue tomorrow