Good morning, hope you had a great weekend. Let’s ease into the week with some tech news.
1. Two Aussies charged over defrauding tech
Two Victorians – a teenager and a man in his 30s – have been charged following an international investigation into a website selling fraud enabling technology responsible for more than $1 million stolen from Australian victims. In a statement, the Australian Federal Police said once subscribed, the site enabled users to make fraudulent robo-calls including sending One-Time-Pins and other services designed to make the call seem legitimate to the victims. If found guilty they could face up to 10 years in jail.
2. Another Tesla recall
More than 15,000 Tesla electric vehicles are being recalled in Australia over faulty rear lights that authorities warned “could increase the risk of an accident causing serious injury or death”. The recall, issued late on Thursday, and brought to our attention by The Guardian, affects 15,914 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in Australia sold in 2022. It is the second recall for the company in just a fortnight and the third this month.
3. Musk phone
Twitter’s new ruler Elon Musk makes so many pronouncements on the platform, it’s hard to keep track. Last week alone, Musk polled Twitter users over whether he should provide “general amnesty” to suspended accounts and got into a public fight over whether the disgraced founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, owns a part of Twitter. On Friday, Musk was at it again, telling people that he may make an alternative phone to face off against Apple and Google. Endless content, this guy.
I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
4. WhatsApp data up for sale
As reported by Cybernews someone is apparently selling a 2022 database of 487 million WhatsApp mobile numbers. This allegedly includes accounts from 84 countries – from the screenshot embedded in that article, there is 8.5 million Australian records up for sale. WhatsApp has around two billion monthly active users worldwide and this leak puts nearly half a billion users at risk. The seller also revealed they are selling the U.S. data for $US7,000. WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta has not issued a statement on the leak just yet.
5. GameStop data faux pas
Another reported data breach this weekend was GameStop. According to multiple users on social media, and brought to our attention by Video Games Chronicle, for a period of time on Saturday (U.S. time) customers were being shown other users’ information when refreshing their order pages. It’s not clear if this included full credit card numbers, but one user shared an image showing a partial number. Gizmodo Australia is yet to receive any further detail on the matter.
BONUS ITEM: NASA making us emotional on a Monday morning.
Enjoy the rest of your week.