Feast on the Desperate - Lecture
This video is a visual representation of the themes explored in my research paper "Feast on the Desperate: An Analysis of Social Engineering Attacks Exploiting Human Vulnerabilities". It highlights the psychological tactics used by attackers to manipulate individuals and the importance of awareness and education in combating these threats.
Presentation
Publication
References
| Acharya, B. et al. (2024) 'Conning the Crypto Conman: End-to-End Analysis of Cryptocurrency-Based Technical Support Scams'. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.09824. |
| Action Fraud (n.d.) Advance Fee Fraud | Action Fraud. Available at: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/a-z-of-fraud/advance-fee-fraud. |
| Akbari, M. et al. (2021) 'Fear of Missing out (FoMO) and Internet Use: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis', Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 10, 879–900. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2021.00083. |
| Allyn, B. (2023) 'He Lost $340,000 to a Crypto Scam. Such Cases Are on the Rise', NPR, 25 June. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/25/1180256165/crypto-scam-senior-victims-spirebit. |
| Antonopoulos, A.M. (2017) Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking digital cryptocurrencies. 2nd edn. Sebastopol: O'Reilly Media. |
| Balaban, D.C. et al. (2022) 'Parasocial Relations and Social Media Influencers’ Persuasive Power. Exploring the Moderating Role of Product Involvement', Acta Psychologica, 230, 103731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103731. |
| Bartoletti, M. et al. (2021) 'Cryptocurrency Scams: Analysis and Perspectives', IEEE Access, 9, 148353–148373. https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2021.3123894. |
| BBC [Eye Investigation] (2023) BBC News - Eye Investigations, the Pig Butchering Romance Scam, 3 March. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001jw0s/eye-investigations-the-pig-butchering-romance-scam. |
| Bendiksen, C. (2024) 'Bitcoin Valuation by Savings Adoption - CoinShares Research Blog', Medium, 28 November. Available at: https://blog.coinshares.com/bitcoin-valuation-by-savings-adoption-cd395ac807f6. |
| Blockchain Explained - IBM (2019) Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QphJEO9ZX6s (Accessed: 20 December 2024). |
| Bloomberg Originals (2023) RUIN: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX, 26 October. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QpdU9LS540. |
| Brand, M. et al. (2016) 'Integrating Psychological and Neurobiological Considerations Regarding the Development and Maintenance of Specific Internet-Use Disorders: An Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) Model', Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 71, 252–266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.033. |
| Brand, M. et al. (2019) 'The Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) Model for Addictive Behaviors: Update, Generalization to Addictive Behaviors beyond Internet-Use Disorders, and Specification of the Process Character of Addictive Behaviors', Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 104, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.06.032. |
| Chainalysis, Team C [Chainalysis] (2025) 2024 Crypto Crime Trends: Illicit Activity Down as Scamming and Stolen Funds Fall, But Ransomware and DarknetMarkets See Growth, 6 February. Available at: https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/2024-crypto-crime-report-introduction/. |
| Chen, Y. (2023) NFT, digital copyright, and metaverse. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. |
| Christophe (2024) I Tracked down My WhatsApp Crypto Scammers, 4 December. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QhMqoTNSl8. |
| Cifas (2025) Newsroom | Updates on Our Insights, Trends and Fraud Solutions | Cifas, 3 December. Available at: https://www.cifas.org.uk/newsroom/cifas-rusi-growing-id-fraud-threat. |
| Cruz, B. (2024) The Pig Butchering Scam Explained | Security.Org, 10 October. Available at: https://www.security.org/digital-safety/scams/pig-butchering/. |
| Delmolino, K., Arnett, M., Kosba, A., Miller, A. and Shi, E. (2016) ‘Step by step towards creating a safe and liveable city’. In: Financial Cryptography and Data Security. Pp. 605-618. (Accessed: 20 December 2024). |
| Dove, M. (2020) The Psychology of Fraud, Persuasion and Scam Techniques: Understanding What Makes Us Vulnerable. Routledge. |
| Dowling, M. (2022) NFTs for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: For Dummies. |
| Faux, Z. (2023) Number Go up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall. Hachette UK. |
| Iansiti, M. and Lakhani, K.R. (2017) ‘The truth about blockchain’. Harvard Business Review, 95(1), pp. 118-127. (Accessed: 20 December 2024). |
| Jim Browning (2024) Inside a Pig Butchering Scam, 25 February. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu-Y1h9rTUs. |
| John Oliver [Last Week Tonight] (2023) Cryptocurrencies II: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), 24 April. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7zazuy_UfI. |
| John Oliver [Last Week Tonight] (2024) Pig Butchering Scams: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), 29 February. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg. |
| Levi, M. et al. (2017) Economic Crime: Learning from Offender Methodologies, and Pathways into (and out of) Crime, March. |
| Lewis, C. (2023) 'Investment Scams Are Everywhere on Social Media. Here’s How to Spot One | AP News', 17 August. Available at: https://apnews.com/article/investment-scams-crypto-fraud-social-media-f9e053a6c555c25c90e5f7330607d90c. |
| Lloyds Banking Group (2023) Lloyds Bank Issues Urgent Warning over Rising Threat of Crypto Scams, 10 November. Available at: https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/press-releases/2023/lloyds-bank-2023/lloyds-bank-issues-warning-over-crypto-scams.html. |
| Major, J. (2022) 'Study: Over 30,000 Crypto Crimes Reported in the UK in Last 5 Years', Finbold, 15 July. Available at: https://finbold.com/study-over-34300-crypto-crimes-reported-in-the-uk-since-2016/. |
| McCoy, M. (2023) 'What Took down This Kansas Bank? It’s a Secret, but What Saved Depositors Isn’t.', Kansas Reflector, 24 September. Available at: https://kansasreflector.com/2023/09/24/what-took-down-this-kansas-bank-its-a-secret-but-what-saved-depositors-isnt/. |
| Mirtaheri, M. et al. (2021) 'Identifying and Analyzing Cryptocurrency Manipulations in Social Media', IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, 8, 607–617. https://doi.org/10.1109/tcss.2021.3059286. |
| Nakamoto, S. (2008) Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system. (online) Available at: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf (Accessed: 20 December 2024). |
| National Geographic UK (2023) Crypto Scams | Trafficked With Mariana Van Zeller | National Geographic, 11 April. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtMvVqbA79o. |
| National Office for Statistics (2024) Nature of Fraud and Computer Misuse in England and Wales: Appendix Tables - Office for National Statistics, 6 November. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/natureoffraudandcomputermisuseinenglandandwalesappendixtables. |
| Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2022) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 12th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. |
| Rhysider, J. (2018) 'Crypto Wars – Darknet diaries', [Podcast], Darknet Diaries, 2018. Available at: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/12/. |
| Rhysider, J. (2025) Interviewed by Saeed Ahmed [Discord], 6 February. |
| Rhysider, J. and Tokazowski, R. (2024) 'The Pig Butcher', [Podcast], Darknet Diaries, 2 January. Available at: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/141/. |
| Salahdine, F. & Kaabouch, N. (2019) 'Social Engineering Attacks: A Survey', Future Internet, 11, 89. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11040089. |
| Solidus Labs (2022) What is a Rug Pull? DeFi Scams Explained. Available at: https://www.soliduslabs.com/post/rug-pull-crypto-scams#:~:text=A%20rug%20pull%20is%20when,holdings%20abruptly%2C%20leaving%20investors%20with (Accessed: 1 January 2025). |
| Statista (2024) Instagram: Number of Global Users 2020-2025, 22 May. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/183585/instagram-number-of-global-users/. |
| Study suggests quarter of UK adults commit at least one economic crime a year (2024). Available at: https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/news/study-suggests-quarter-of-uk-adults-commit-at-least-one-economic-crime-a-year (Accessed: 16 March 2025). |
| Swan, M. (2015) Blockchain: Blueprint for a new economy. O'Reilly Media, Inc. (Accessed: 20 December 2024). |
| Tapscott, D. and Tapscott, A. (2016) Blockchain revolution: How the technology behind bitcoin is changing money, business, and the world. Penguin. (Accessed: 20 December 2024). |
| Trozze, A. et al. (2022) 'Cryptocurrencies and Future Financial Crime', Crime Science, 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-021-00163-8. |
| Venkataramakrishnan, S. (2024) 'UK Crypto Fraud Losses Jump 40%', Financial Times, 19 February. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/88602223-004b-4e27-b9eb-c45e1f850f9f. |
| Wang, J. (2022) The NFT handbook: How to create, sell, and buy non-fungible tokens. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media. |
| World Economic Forum & Wood, J. (2024) 'Pig-Butchering’ Scams on the Rise as Technology Amplifies Financial Fraud, Interpol Warns', 10 September. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/04/interpol-financial-fraud-scams-cybercrime/. |
| Wright, A. and Filippi, P.D. (2015) ‘Decentralised Blockchain Technology and the Rise of Lex Cryptographia’. SSRN Electronic Journal. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2580664 (Accessed: 20 December 2024). |
| Xia, P. et al. (2020a) 'Don’t Fish in Troubled Waters! Characterizing Coronavirus-Themed Cryptocurrency Scams', IEEE, 16 November. https://doi.org/10.1109/ecrime51433.2020.9493255. |
| Xia, P. et al. (2020b) Characterizing Cryptocurrency Exchange Scams, 16 March. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.07314. |
| Yousaf, I. et al. (2023) 'What Do Responses of Financial Markets to the Collapse of FTX Say about Investor Interest in Cryptocurrencies? Event-Study Evidence', Finance Research Letters, 53, 103661. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2023.103661. |