Season 3 · 11 March 2026
What a Financial Crime Expert Knows That Most People Don't
Think you're too smart to be scammed? Think again.
Financial crime expert Jessica Cath joins host and producer Aleksandra King on The BEYOND Podcast to reveal how AI-driven fraud is outgrowing the global drug trade, and the golden rules that protect your life savings from the world's most sophisticated predators.
Episode summary
Jessica sets out the scale of the threat: fraud as a trillion-dollar industry now rivalling the global drug trade, and the psychology of the scam, from corporate phishing to the long con.
She turns to the next generation, money muling and phone theft, then to the AI frontier: deepfakes, voice cloning and fake shops, and what they mean for how any of us can still trust what we see and hear.
It closes with policing and policy, and her three golden rules for protecting yourself and the people around you.
Key takeaways
- Fraud has grown into a trillion-dollar threat that rivals the global drug trade.
- Scams work on psychology, not stupidity: no one is too smart to be a target.
- Young people are being drawn into money muling, and phone theft is a gateway to far more than the handset.
- AI has opened a new frontier: deepfakes, voice cloning and fake shops at industrial scale.
- Three golden rules, applied consistently, do most of the work of protecting your life savings.
Key chapters
| Chapter | Timestamp |
|---|---|
| The trillion-dollar threat: fraud versus the global drug trade | 00:00 |
| Corporate phishing, and the psychology of the scam | 05:08 |
| Protecting the next generation: money muling and phone theft | 12:09 |
| The AI frontier: deepfakes, voice cloning, and fake shops | 22:02 |
| Policing, policy, and the three golden rules | 32:16 |
The guest
Jessica Cath leads financial crime work at Thistle Initiatives, helping firms of all sizes build compliant, secure structures to catch bad actors and protect vulnerable consumers. Her full background is on her guest profile.
Where to listen
Follow Aleksandra
Business and collaborations: aleksandraking.com | aleksandra@aleksandraking.com
The views expressed by guests are their own and do not reflect those of Aleksandra, the podcast, or its producers. This podcast is for entertainment only.