NEW: If you bought or received a gift card and discovered the balance was already spent, you may have been a victim of Chinese organized crime.

We reveal that a national federal task force has linked Chinese crime orgs to the 'card draining' epidemic: propublica.org/article/chines…

‘PROJECT RED HOOK’: A Homeland Security task force takes aim at Chinese organized crime rings stealing hundreds of millions in gift card balances from U.S. consumers.

New, from ⁦Craig Silverman⁩ and me. propublica.org/article/chines…

Really interesting area of research. I wonder if the perception of AI as “neutral” combines with the conversational element to create a unique opportunity for engaging with conspiratorial beliefs.

Pioneering disinformation reporter Jane Lytvynenko (Jane Lytvynenko) will host a International Fact-Checking Network webinar about investigating Telegram on April 4.
poynter.org/ifcn/2024/qa-j…

Writing about my vision loss has lead to a lot of work in TV and journalism. I wanted to pay it forward.

With Shared Bylines I’ve put together a scholarship for blind/visually impaired journalists. The scholarship is for three grand. Apply below.

sharedbylines.com/david-brown-sc…

It's GIJN's Webinar Day!

Today, March 19, join Priyanjana Bengani, Malek Khadhraoui & Maria Ronderos for a conversation on investigating disinformation, malware, spyware, & trolling in 2024 elections.

Moderator is Craig Silverman of @ProPublica

⌚ 1pm GMT.

Register: buff.ly/3TG2zcs

Want to learn how to investigate disinfo, trolling & digital infrastructure? Apply for the third cohort of GIJN's Digital Threats Cyber Investigations Training Course. Fellows receive 6 weeks of virtual training and mentoring for free.

Deadline March 24: gijn.org/stories/digita…

Only a few hours after Carl’s Walmart paycheck landed in his One Finance account, online thieves had stolen all but a few cents.

Carl’s experience has been distressingly common since Walmart bought One in 2022. propublica.org/article/after-…

The new editon of my free Digital Investigations newsletter is out! I confirm the bad news that LinkedIn X-ray search is dead as we knew it, share some free upcoming #OSINT and #journalism webinars, and highlight new and updated investigative tools.

Read:
digitalinvestigations.substack.com/p/tools-and-ti…

ICYMI, you should really check out this magnificent project.
A Memorial for the Children Lost to Stillbirth projects.propublica.org/stillbirth-mem… Adriana Gallardo Duaa Eldeib zisiga mukulu

Fraudsters are exploiting Walmart’s financial services to get paid quickly and easily by telling victims to buy Walmart gift cards or send funds via money transfers.

Too often, Walmart has failed to crack down on the scams. propublica.org/article/walmar…

Excellent deep-dive by Craig Silverman Peter Elkind into how Walmart facilitated fraud on a mass scale. The company looked the other way as scammers used its gift cards to launder fraud proceeds and resell cards in China, costing Americans more than $1bn propublica.org/article/walmar…