This October, for Cyber Awareness Month, we’re launching Xposed, a series of insights into how fraud and cybercrime unfold, through real-life stories of people like you. Each story is a lesson, a warning, and a reminder that it could happen to anyone. Together, we reflect and spark conversations on raising awareness today, a task that cannot be separated from comprehensive fraud and cybercrime protection.
Losing years of carefully saved money in just a few minutes, sometimes even seconds, sounds almost unreal. Yet in 2025, it happens more often than we like to admit. The stories of those affected are countless, and the tricks scammers use are endlessly inventive.
Fraud knows no age, background, or level of expertise
After traveling to Australia for the first Xposed story and to the US for the second, this time we’re heading to Italy, where Alex, a seasoned IT engineer with years of cybersecurity experience, thought he’d seen it all. Yet one day, a perfectly legitimate-looking message from his bank, followed by a convincing phone call, led him into a situation he never thought possible.
No obvious red flags. No suspicious links. Just the right tone, the right timing, and the right psychological pressure.
This is a classic example of a highly sophisticated Authorized Push Payment (APP) scam, a type of impersonation fraud that relies on trust rather than technology, exploiting human instinct and emotion instead of technical vulnerabilities.
A Real-Life Scam: targeting an IT professional
Alex’s experience is particularly revealing because it shows that no one is immune. Awareness is essential, but not enough. Fraudsters constantly adapt, mastering behavioral manipulation to exploit even the most vigilant users.
To help you understand what this really means, we’ve written a paper that tells the full story of those twenty minutes in Alex’s life, so you can see exactly how this scam works and what to expect if it ever happens to you. Download it here!
Let’s protect users so they don’t have to
Ensuring users are protected from online fraud is the responsibility of digital services, not the individual. At XTN Cognitive Security®, our Cognitive Security Platform® monitors and blocks the behavioral patterns behind these scams, safeguarding both users and the service they rely on. Even experts can be fooled, but with the right protection, no one has to fall victim.
Read the full story here and discover how advanced fraud detection can make the difference.
We hope Xposed gives you pause to reflect on how easily trust can be exploited online and how critical awareness is in today’s digital world. Take a moment this Cyber Awareness Month to review your own habits, question unexpected requests, and explore the tools and protections available to keep your accounts and devices safe.
But don’t stop there. Share what you learn with the people around you, parents, grandparents, friends, those who may not be scrolling LinkedIn but are often the first targets of fraudsters. Passing knowledge forward is one of the simplest, most powerful ways to protect the people we care about.
Stay informed, stay vigilant, and join the conversation. Check out our XTN solutions to see how advanced fraud and cyber-prevention systems can provide the safety net every digital user deserves.
