
About this episode
The episode explores the Lighthouse phishing-as-a-service platform and the smishing triad ecosystem with security researcher Ford Merrill.
A deep dive into Lighthouse, a phishing-as-a-service platform linked to millions of scam texts worldwide, and the sprawling “smishing triad” ecosystem built around it. With security researcher Ford Merrill, we unpack how modern scam operations work at industrial scale — from fake e-commerce sites and mass SMS campaigns to the wallet-provisioning techniques that let criminals turn stolen credit cards into tap-to-pay phones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
People in this episode
Host: Hacked
Guest: Ford Merrill
Topics covered
- smishing
- phishing-as-a-service
- scam texts
- cybersecurity
- credit card fraud
- SMS campaigns
Keywords
- smishing
- phishing
- scam texts
- cybersecurity
- credit card fraud
- Lighthouse
- Ford Merrill
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Lighthouse
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