Bottom line: Social engineering tactics are a common method used by criminals to defraud investors in Silicon Valley.
What's happening: Researchers analyzed court data from Silicon Valley ventures and their founders prosecuted for fraud between 2000 and 2023. The US Department of Justice charged 15 individuals with fraud related to the sale of a non-existent AI startup in 2021.
What to do: Security leaders should review their employee training programs to ensure they cover social engineering tactics, including phishing and pretexting. Additionally, they should monitor their systems for suspicious activity and implement robust security measures to prevent similar incidents.