Europol has dismantled a gang linked to a $40 million CEO scam. Find out more about how this international criminal syndicate was uncovered and who was involved.
The email scam gang behind France’s largest-ever CEO scam has been dismantled after a coordinated police operation across multiple countries was successful in arresting six people in France and two in Israel.
The Europe-wide operation to track down the Franco-Israeli criminal organization involved the Croatian National Police, the Croatian Anti Money Laundering Office, the French National Police, the French Gendarmerie, the Hungarian Budapest Metropolitan Police, the Israel Police, the Portuguese Judicial Police, and the Spanish National Police.
Law enforcement authorities involved in the operation (Image: Europol)
In early December 2021, one of the gang members, now arrested as a suspect, impersonated the CEO of a metallurgy company in northeastern France and tricked the accountant into making an urgent and confidential transfer of €500,000 ($530,000) which was subsequently spotted and blocked.
In late December 2021, according to Europol’s press release, Sefri-Cime, a real-estate developer, fell victim to the same group after its members impersonated lawyers working for a well-known French accounting firm. According to Europol, they persuaded the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to transfer almost €38 million ($40 million) altogether.
The criminal network, consisting of French and Israeli nationals, used a pre-existing money laundering scheme that laundered the funds via European countries, China, and then Israel. An investigation that followed revealed the money mules working for the gang in Croatia, Portugal, and Hungary.
The police were able to seize electronic equipment and vehicles, €3 million from Portuguese bank accounts, €1.1 million from Hungarian bank accounts, €600,000 from Croatian bank accounts, €EUR 400,000 from Spanish bank accounts and €350,000 in virtual currencies.
The operation continued for five days between January 2022 and 2023 in France and Israel, leading to eight house searches and eight arrests, including the alleged Israeli gang leader, according to Europol.
For a few years now, the “Plus” model in the Galaxy S series has been pretty odd. It’s slightly smaller than the Ultra model, and only a couple hundred less than the Ultra model. Yet, it doesn’t offer many of the same specs and features. Making it a pretty weird model for Samsung, and one that I do believe they need to get rid of. And just make the S23 and S23 Ultra.
I still believe that, however, the Galaxy S23 Plus is a great phone, for a specific person. And that person is, someone that want’s a large phone. Someone that doesn’t want a curved display or a S Pen. And someone that wants to save a few hundred bucks. Remember, the Ultra is $200 more than the Plus. So let’s explore everything that the Galaxy S23 Plus does right and wrong, in our full review.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus Review: Design
Since the Galaxy S20 series a few years ago, Samsung has been iterating on the design of the S series, and this year, I think Samsung is at the peak. I really like the design of the S23 Plus, even more so than the Ultra. The back of the Plus is flat, with individual camera bumps for each camera. Which are round, and look very minimal. Honestly, it looks really good. The sides are still curved, making it easier to hold onto your phone. However, the edges on the screen and on the back, are quite sharp. Almost as sharp as the iPhone 13 Pro series was last year. Obviously, you can get around this by using a case, and most will. But still worth noting.
It’s a fairly boring design, but honestly, I think that fits the Galaxy S23 series perfectly. As it is a pretty boring lineup this year. It’s like a cookie-cutter smartphone. Where Samsung comes out with the highest specs available, and keeps the same price each year. Where Samsung is really cutting the edge is on the foldables that come out in August.
As far as the rest of the hardware goes, the sides are Armor Aluminum, and since the S23 Plus has a flat display, it’s also more durable than other smartphones out there. Particularly those with curved displays. It also uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the back and front. That’s going to keep it from shattering, but it will scratch very, very easily. Unfortunately, as the glass gets less likely to shatter, it does get softer. So it does scratch way easier. But, I’m happy to report that my review unit has zero scratches on it, yet.
The best display on a smartphone
Samsung always has the best display on a smartphone, so this is nothing new really. Since Samsung makes most of the smartphone displays out there and of course it keeps the good stuff for its own devices. But the Galaxy S23 Plus’ display is so beautiful. It has true-to-life colors, though you can actually saturate it a bit more if you like that look better. As Samsung does allow you to adjust many aspects of the display.
The only downside here is that the Galaxy S23 Plus tops out at FHD+ resolution. Samsung saves the QHD+ panels for the Ultra model. But let’s be honest, FHD+ is plenty of resolution for a 6.6-inch display. It’s an AMOLED display, with adaptive 120Hz. So you will see it move from 1 to 120Hz, depending on what you’re doing.
Finally, it does get very bright. With peak brightness up to 1750 nits. That is the same as the Galaxy S23 Ultra. This means that you’ll be able to use it outdoors in bright sunlight, which is really great to see. And I hope more smartphones adopt this feature.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus Review: Performance
Inside the Galaxy S23 Plus is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. It’s basically the same processor that’s in the OnePlus 11, but this is overclocked a bit, and better optimized for Galaxy devices. This processor makes the Galaxy S23 Plus ridiculously fast. During my time using the Plus, I have not noticed it slowing down at all. Which is quite impressive, especially when I add in that, it rarely gets hot. Now, like most phones, if I use the camera for a long time, or play some games for a while, the phone will get warm. But it doesn’t overheat at all.
Along with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, there’s also 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage in this model. All Plus models have 8GB of RAM, and comes in 256GB and 512GB storage models. The whole phone is pretty fast here, and RAM isn’t even an issue here. Which is kind of surprising, given how much of a memory hog that One UI is. But that’s definitely great to see.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus Review: Battery life and Charging
This year, Samsung added 200mAh to the Galaxy S23 Plus, compared to its predecessor. So now we have a 4700mAh capacity battery inside the Galaxy S23 Plus. So it sounds like it would offer great battery life, especially knowing how good the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is with battery life. And it is great, but it is definitely a level or two below the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
With the Galaxy S23 Plus I was able to hit 8 hours of screen on time, on a single charge. Meanwhile the Ultra is at least 10 hours, and can be pushed to 12 hours. So while the Plus has great battery life, it’s not the best on a S23 model. Which is not what I was expecting. But I’d still take 8 hours of screen on time any day.
Now for the bad news, standby sucks on this one. Overnight, around 8 hours, the Galaxy S23 Plus loses between 12-15% of its charge. That’s pretty insane, and I think (and hope) Samsung will fix this in a software update. The Galaxy S23 Ultra went through the same test and lost about 5-7% over the same 8 hours of standby. So it definitely seems like something is wrong. And I honestly think that is why the Plus is so far below the Ultra in terms of battery life.
That’s going to be enough to get you through a full day, and maybe even two days. This is going to depend on how you use your phone, of course. Not everyone uses their phone for 8 hours a day, and if you’re a lighter user, you might get two full days.
Onto charging, it’s good, but could be better. Samsung is still stuck at 45W wired charging. Which is fast, but when we have phones like the OnePlus 11 doing close to 100W charging, for less money, you have to wonder why Samsung is still stuck at just 45W? Well, we probably do know why – the Galaxy Note 7. What makes this even worse is that the charger is not included in the box. As far as wireless charging goes, it does still go up to 15W. Which is fine, if you’re charging it overnight. Would be great to see wireless charging getting faster.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus Review: Software
When it comes to software, the entire Galaxy S23 series ships with Android 13 and One UI 5.1 – which One UI 5.1 is actually rolling out to most of the recent Samsung phones right now, so you don’t need to buy the S23 to get it. With One UI 5.1, we have plenty of great features available here. Some of which are part of Android 13, like the more options for the color palette in the icons.
But Samsung has also copied some features from Apple. That includes being able to pull an object out of a photo and make it into a sticker. So if you took a photo of your dog, you can long-press on it and then share it as a sticker. Samsung has also brought back the ability to customize your lockscreen, by changing the shortcuts, and changing the clock’s color and font. Which is really cool to have here.
On top of all that, Samsung is also promising four years of Android updates and five years of security updates. That makes it the longest on the Android side. Apple is still updating phones for at least six years. But that does mean that the Galaxy S23 Plus is going to get upgraded to Android 17, and that’s not too shabby, to be quite honest.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus Review: Camera
While everyone’s talking about the new 200MP sensor on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, it’s not here on the Plus. Instead, it has a 50-megapixel main sensor, with a 12-megapixel ultrawide and a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor that can do 3x optical zoom. That’s plenty, to be honest. Especially since Samsung does let you take photos at the full 50MP resolution, instead of only allowing it to be pixel-binned down to 12.5-megapixels.
The images coming from the Galaxy S23 Plus are quite good. They are crisp and mostly in true-to-life colors. There are some instances where they might be a bit saturated. That’s something that is popular over in Korea, where Samsung is from. So it makes sense that they still go with the saturated look.
Much like on the Ultra, the Plus has a pretty good portrait mode. In my testing, it even did good with my glasses. Typically, phones will not cut out my glasses in portrait mode, and blur the side of them. But that’s not the case with the Galaxy S23 series, and that’s definitely something I really like here.
Zoom levels on the Galaxy S23 Plus are pretty good. Sure, I’d love to have 10x optical zoom available here, but 3x is good. And probably what I’d use most of the time anyways. Pictures coming out of that 3x optical zoom feature look really good. Sure, you will need a good amount of light for them to look good, since this is a 10-megapixel sensor its using here. So do keep that in mind. Here are some camera samples from the Galaxy S23 Plus.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus Review: Wrap Up
The Galaxy S23 Plus is mostly a good smartphone. The only real downside here is the battery life, which can be fixed with an update. Then again, if I’m complaining about 8 hours of screen on time, then it must be pretty good. For most people, this is going to be enough smartphone and they won’t need to buy the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and save themselves $200 here. The camera is great, software is great, and even the hardware is great.
The tech giant Fortinet has recently fixed critical vulnerabilities in its FortiNAC and FortiWeb products. Exploiting the vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution attacks. Given the critical severity of the flaws, users must rush to update their systems with the patched versions at the earliest.
Fortinet Disclosed FortiNAC And FortiWeb Vulnerabilities
Fortinet has recently shared details about the serious vulnerabilities affecting its security products, FortiNAC and FortiWeb.
Specifically, FortiNAC is a dedicated network access control solution ensuring zero-trust access to the intended network. It works well for securing sensitive networks, IoT, IT, and connected infrastructure. FortiWeb is a web application firewall (WAF) protecting web apps and APIs against known exploits.
Regarding FortiNAC, the vendor highlighted the existence of an external control of file name or path vulnerability in keyUpload scriptlet. Exploiting the vulnerability could allow an unauthenticated adversary to perform arbitrary write on the target system. As mentioned in Fortinet’s advisory, the vulnerability, CVE-2022-39952, received a critical severity rating with a CVSS score of 9.8.
This vulnerability affects the FortiNAC version 9.4.0, 9.2.0 through 9.2.5, 9.1.0 through 9.1.7, 8.8 (all versions), 8.7 (all versions), 8.6 (all versions), 8.5 (all versions), and 8.3 (all versions).
As for FortiWeb, the firm mentioned the existence of stack-based buffer overflow in the firewall’s proxy daemon (Proxyd). Exploiting this vulnerability could let an attacker execute arbitrary codes on the target app without authentication. As explained in a separate advisory, triggering this flaw merely required the adversary to use maliciously crafted HTTP requests.
Fortinet described this vulnerability, CVE-2021-42756, as another critical severity issue that received a CVSS score of 9.3. It affected FortiWeb versions 5.x (all versions), 6.0.7 and below, 6.1.2 and below, 6.2.6 and below, 6.3.16 and below, and 6.4 (all versions).
Bug Fixes Deployed – Update Asap
Upon discovering the vulnerabilities, Fortinet’s internal researchers highlighted the matter, triggering bug-fix development. Eventually, Fortinet patched the respective vulnerabilities with the subsequent FortiNAC and FortiWeb versions. Hence, users should update their systems with the following product releases.
FortiNAC version 9.4.1 or above, version 9.2.6 or above, version 9.1.8 or above, and version 7.2.0 or above.
FortiWeb 7.0.0 or above, 6.3.17 or above, 6.2.7 or above, 6.1.3 or above, and 6.0.8 or above.
Verizon is the biggest carrier in the US, and has quite a few smartphones that you can choose from. Mostly consisting of Google Pixel, Samsung, Motorola and the iPhone. However, looking at the long list of smartphones from Verizon can be quite daunting for anyone, so we’re here to help you figure out which phone is best for you.
And if you’re looking to make the jump over to Verizon, we have the best Verizon plans available here. So you can pair your new Verizon phone with the best plan that is currently available.
Best Verizon Phones
Verizon has phones ranging from around $200, to up over $1,000. So there’s something here for every budget, no matter what you can afford. The majority of these phones are from Google, Samsung and Motorola, with an iPhone tossed in. Keep in mind that Verizon does tend to have deals and promos going on all the time, which we will keep you apprised of through our deals here.
So without further ado, here are the best phones for Verizon. All of the prices below are per month, for 36 months, unless otherwise noted.
The Pixel 7 Pro is one of the best smartphones of 2022, and now it can be yours at Verizon. The Pixel 7 Pro comes with a pretty good looking 6.7-inch QHD+ 120Hz display, powered by Google’s Tensor G2 processor, 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It also has a 5000mAh capacity battery included. Making it a pretty powerful device.
Google has promised three years of software updates here and five years of security updates (through 2025 and 2027 respectively).
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 5G is the best foldable that you can buy in the US. Samsung has equipped it with a 6.2-inch outer display, which is rather tall, but still good for getting some simpler tasks done. While you can unfold it and take advantage of the 7.6-inch inner display. Both of these are 120Hz, and have Corning Gorilla Glass Victus installed.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 5G runs on the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There’s no micro SD card slot available for expansion either. This has a somewhat small battery at 4400mAh, so you may need to charge it a bit more frequently.
And this year, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is now a few millimeters narrower, so it fits better in the hand. And makes the main display a bit less tall and skinny.
This is one of the first Motorola Edge phones to come to the US, which explains why it’s so cheap these days. But it’s still quite capable. This has a 6.7-inch FHD+ display, powered by the Snapdragon 778 5G processor with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There is also a 256GB model available if you need more storage.
The Motorola Edge also has a 108-megapixel main sensor on the back, along with a 8-megapixel telephoto lens, a 16-megapixel ultra-wide and a 32-megapixel front-facing sensor. There’s also a 4000mAh capacity battery inside.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is a contender for the best smartphone of the year so far. It comes with a 6.8-inch QHD+ 120Hz Adaptive display, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, 8GB/12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (up to 1TB). There’s also a 5000mAh capacity battery inside that should keep you going all day long.
This is also the world’s first smartphone with a 200-megapixel camera inside. Which has performed pretty well, you can see more about it in our review.
The Galaxy A53 5G UW is a really great smartphone with flagship features without the flagship price. As you can see, this is $10 per month for 36 months (for $360 total). It offers a 6.5-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED 120Hz display – not LTPO though so it doesn’t adapt.
It is powered by the Exynos 1280 processor, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There’s also a massive 5,000mAh capacity battery inside, the same size as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, for a fraction of the price.
The moto g stylus 5G is one of the cheaper 5G smartphones you can buy, and it even comes with a stylus. Now it’s nowhere near what Samsung offers with the S Pen, but it is a stylus.
This sports a 6.8-inch FHD+ 120Hz display, the Snapdragon 695 5G processor with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There is also a 5000mAh capacity battery in this one.
The Google Pixel 7 is a pretty sweet smartphone to pick up. It comes in some nice colors and has an upgraded camera. It does have a pretty small display at 6.1-inches. So it’s great for those that want something smaller. It also has the Tensor G2 processor inside, with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It has just a ultrawide and regular camera sensor though.
Google is promising at least three years of updates here, and four years of security updates. So it should see Android 16, which is quite impressive.
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 5G is the most popular foldable in the US right now. This one is basically a regular phone that can fold in half. Who doesn’t want that? It sports a 6.7-inch inner display which is AMOLED and 120Hz. There is a small 1.9-inch outer display for notifications.
Internally, you’ll find the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor inside, with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There is a 256GB model available. And there is a small 3700mAh capacity battery inside.
The moto g pure is the cheapest phone on this list, coming in at $0. This is normally $149 full retail, but you can typically get it on a financing plan for nothing.
Now there is a reason why this phone is that cheap. It has a 6.5-inch HD+ display, the MediaTek Helio G25 processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. There is a micro SD card slot available. And surprisingly, a very large battery here, rated at 4000mAh.
Rounding out our best Verizon phones list here, we have the iPhone 14. We chose the standard iPhone 14 out of the four models, because it’s the best value. It’s $799 full retail, and offers a faster processor than most Android flagships. That’s thanks to the Apple A15 Bionic, which is incredibly fast.
Surprisingly, there’s only 6GB of RAM here, with 128GB of storage. There are 256GB and 512GB models available too. It has a pretty small 3279mAh capacity battery but it will still last you all day, thanks to the insane software optimization that the iPhone has.
Following the pandemic, many companies, including Amazon, have continued to offer their employees the flexibility of working from home. But according to a new blog post by CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon’s corporate and tech employees would have to return to the office at least three days a week, starting May 1st.
Jassy explained that after observing various models of work arrangements during the pandemic, the company concluded that a hybrid work arrangement would be the best of both worlds, allowing employees to enjoy the flexibility of working from home while also experiencing the benefits of working in an office environment. However, there wasn’t any quantitative evidence in the blog post justifying his claims.
“Collaborating and inventing is easier and more effective when we’re in person. The energy and riffing on one another’s ideas happen more freely. Also, teams working on new ideas often find that a whiteboard enhances the group understanding and iterating,” reads the blog post.
Potential challenges of bringing employees back to the office
Jassy acknowledged that bringing employees back to the office won’t be a simple process, and Amazon is allowing teams to develop a plan for the transition. The company understands that the process may not be perfect at first, but the office experience will steadily improve over the coming months and years as they continue to evolve their office setups to capture the new ways they want to work.
“I’m very optimistic about the positive impact this will have on how we serve and invent on behalf of customers, as well as on the growth and success of our employees,” says Jassy.
Amazon is not the only tech company to reverse its work-from-home policy. Companies like Activision, Apple, Tesla, and Twitter have also shifted back to in-person or hybrid work arrangements. However, many employees have resisted these mandates, arguing that they are just as productive working from home.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), GoDaddy revealed that three serious security breaches had impacted the company, boasting 21 million customers and almost $4 billion in revenue.
On Friday, GoDaddy, the world’s leading web hosting firm, confirmed that its network had been impacted by a data breach that started in 2020 and continued until 2022. As a result of this compromise, unidentified hackers stole the company’s source code.
Additionally, part of the stolen data included employees’ and customers’ login credentials. Moreover, the flaw allowed attackers to install malware, which would redirect customers’ websites to malicious domains.
This should not come as a surprise, since GoDaddy has a history of security-related incidents. For instance, in November 2021, hackers accessed 1.2 million GoDaddy customers’ accounts.
In November 2020, GoDaddy revealed that its employees had been tricked by hackers into modifying the DNS settings of at least two cryptocurrency websites. In April 2020, Escrow.com was defaced by hackers after they managed to hack one of GoDaddy’s employees.
As for the recent incident, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, GoDaddy revealed that three serious security breaches had impacted the company, boasting 21 million customers and almost $4 billion in revenue.
The incident started in 2020, and the latest was recorded in 2022. The company noted that a sophisticated hacker group was responsible for all the incidents. This means the same group has repeatedly invaded its networks and may or may not have left, despite the company’s extensive security measures.
The first incident occurred in March 2020, when the attackers obtained login credentials and accessed a limited number of employee accounts and hosting accounts belonging to approximately 28,000 customers. But they couldn’t access the main accounts of GoDaddy customers.
The most recent invasion was noticed in December of 2022. At that time, the attacker accessed the cPanel hosting servers. The company explained that it has responded to subpoenas about the incident that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued in July 2020 and October 2021.
In November 2021, GoDaddy discovered another security breach in which the attacker obtained a password that provided access to GoDaddy’s Managed WordPress service source code.
The attackers gained access in September 2021 and obtained login credentials of WordPress admin accounts, email addresses, and FTP accounts of 1.2 million inactive currently Managed WordPress users. GoDaddy formally disclosed the breach in November 2021.
“We believe these incidents are part of a multi-year campaign by a sophisticated threat actor group that, among other things, installed malware on our systems and obtained pieces of code related to some services within GoDaddy.”
GoDaddy
GoDaddy has claimed that it has evidence, and law enforcement authorities have also confirmed that a security breach occurred, performed by an organized and sophisticated group.
Furthermore, the company added that the hackers’ primary targets are hosting services such as GoDaddy, infecting websites with malware, and launching phishing campaigns.
An upcoming iOS update could prevent iPhone users from accessing the iOS 17 developer beta for free.
Before now, users who want to enable iOS developer beta on their iPhone must install a configuration profile from the Apple Developer website. But that may no longer be the case.
According to reports, the forthcoming iOS 16.4 now has a “Beta Updates” menu in the Settings app to allow users to enable iOS developer betas directly on their device.
In other words, you no longer have to download configuration profiles to access the iOS beta. Furthermore, Apple intends to end profile downloads altogether, making a new menu the only way to enable developer betas on iPhones.
The Beta Updates menu only appears on iPhones whose Apple IDs were enrolled in Apple’s Developer Program for $99 annually. That means iPhone users not part of the program can’t install the iOS 17 developer beta for free following its WWDC announcement in June.
There’s more!
Cracking Down on Free iOS Developer Beta
Apple has been working to prevent free access to its developer betas on iPhones.
Last year, the tech giant cracked down on websites like BetaProfiles.com that share developer beta profiles for free. Meanwhile, Apple’s legal team sent Twitter DMCA takedown notices for posts containing links to other sites such as IPSW.dev and BetaProfiles.dev.
So how can iPhone users access beta profiles without paying the annual $99 fee?
You could try installing the iOS 17 developer beta using the IPSW file for free. However, it’s unclear whether this option is still available.
The good news is Apple’s public Beta Software Program is free. So users who want early access to the iOS 17 must wait for the public beta version, which will likely roll out in July.
However, if you must access iOS 17 beta in June, paying the $99 to enroll in Apple’s Developer Program is best.
One UI 5.1 is here for Samsung‘s latest foldable in the US. Both carrier-locked and unlocked variants of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 are getting the new One UI version stateside. The company began the rollout in international markets last week.
The One UI 5.1 update for the carrier-locked Galaxy Z Fold 4 in the US comes with the firmware build number F936USQU1CWAC. That for the unlocked units is F936U1UEU1CWAC. As of this writing, the update is only available for users on AT&T, Comcast, Xfinity Mobile, Nextech, Bluegrass Cellular, US Cellular, and Cricket Wireless networks. But Samsung should soon cover devices on other networks too.
The story is similar for users of the Galaxy Z Flip 4 as well. Cellular South is the only additional carrier on which Samsung’s fourth-gen clamshell foldable is picking up the new update. But as said before, the Korean firm shouldn’t take long to bring One UI 5.1 to users on other networks. The updated firmware versions for this phone are F721USQU1CWAC (carrier-locked) and F721U1UEU1CWAC (unlocked).
One UI 5.1 reaches the latest Galaxy foldables in the US
The latest update for the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 in the US brings the February security patch. This month’s SMR (Security Maintenance Release) from Samsung patches more than 50 vulnerabilities, including a handful of critical ones.
However, we are more interested in the content of One UI 5.1. While it may seem like a minor upgrade from One UI 5.0 that both foldable are currently running, the new release contains plenty of goodies.
For starters, Samsung has added a shortcut to Expert RAW in the stock camera app. You can now quickly switch to the professional-grade camera app (separate download) if the stock solution isn’t good enough for you.
One UI 5.1 also brings improvements to the multitasking experience on the foldable with new gestures and improved DeX. Samsung Notes, Bixby Text Call, AR Emoji, Samsung Keyboard, and other services get substantial functional improvements too. You can find Samsung’s full One UI 5.1 changelogs here (Galaxy Z Fold 4) and here (Galaxy Z Flip 4).
It’s pertinent to mention here that One UI 5.1 is causing battery drain for some users. Samsung hasn’t said anything about the issue, though. At least not yet. But you might still want to wait a few days and see if the company releases an official statement about this before installing the update. As usual, you can check for updates from the Settings app. Go to the Software update section and tap on Download and install.
While it’s still early days for Bing’s AI chatbot, Microsoft is already exploring ways to monetize its investment. According to Reuters, the company is in discussions with advertising agencies to incorporate ads into the Bing AI chatbot. This move is not surprising, given the potential of AI chatbots to transform the way people search for information and the current advantage Microsoft has over industry giants like Google, which has already suffered a loss of $100 billion in market value over a botched Bard AI launch event.
How will Microsoft incorporate ads in the chatbot?
Reports suggest that the company plans to insert ads into the responses generated by the Bing chatbot, taking on traditional ads where brands pay to have their products or websites appear on search results for relevant keywords. Microsoft is already testing a version of these ads on Bing.
Secondly, Microsoft intends to introduce an advertising format customized for specific industries. For instance, when a user asks the chatbot for the most economical flights to Italy, booking website ads could appear. Additionally, Microsoft is also exploring the possibility of including ads in links that the chatbot uses for citations in its responses. This will enable advertisers to reach users in a more targeted and personalized way, benefiting both parties.
“They seem intent on starting off immediately with paid ads integrated,” said Michael Cohen, executive vice president of performance media at Horizon Media.
Integrating ads in Bing’s AI chatbot will be a game changer for Microsoft as they already have millions of people waiting to get access and every percent of the search industry market share that Microsoft gains would generate another $2 billion of ad revenue. However, there could be downsides to these ads, as users might see them as intrusive or annoying, which could detract from the user experience. Therefore, the company would need to determine the optimal balance between monetization and user experience.
A Franco-Israeli criminal network engaged in extensive CEO fraud has been destroyed as a result of a combined investigation assisted by Europol.
The investigation was conducted jointly by Europol, the police forces of France, Croatia, Hungary, Portugal, and Spain.
In one case involving a single company, the thieves were able to steal €38,000,000 ($40.3M) in a few days, transferring the cash fast via Europe and China before withdrawing it in Israel.
Reports say five action days were the consequence of the operational efforts, and they happened in France and Israel between January 2022 and January 2023.
Results of the Five Action Days
8 home searches in Israel and France
the key organizer’s arrest in Israel
8 individuals were detained (6 in France and 2 in Israel)
Electronic equipment and vehicles are among the items seized, along with approximately 3 million euros from Portuguese bank accounts, 1.1 million euros from Hungarian bank accounts, 600 000 euros from Croatian bank accounts, 400 000 euros from Spanish bank accounts, and 350 000 euros in virtual currencies.
About 5.5 million euros is considered to be the entire worth of the seizures.
Fraudsters Impersonated CEOs
Reports mention that employees in the target firms’ financial departments were approached by fraudsters posing as CEOs, and they tricked them into making payments to bank accounts controlled by the criminals.
BEC scams typically rely on hacking into the target company’s email accounts to covertly monitor communications and spot possibilities like an impending contractor payment.
When the time is right, the scammers send an email from the hacked user asking the accounting division to quickly modify the information for the receiving bank account. Alternatively, scammers may pose as a contractor and unexpectedly demand payment or as the CEO and direct the accountants to make a transfer urgently.
One of the suspects pretended to be the CEO of a metallurgy-focused company with headquarters in the Haute-Marne department of northeastern France around the beginning of December 2021.
The scammer requested that the company’s accountant send a confidential and urgent transfer of 300 000 EUR to a bank in Hungary. A few days later, when the accountant attempted to transfer EUR 500 000 while claiming to be the CEO of the business, the scam was exposed.
A Paris-based real estate developer also fell prey to fraud with a similar method of operation in late December 2021. Yet in this instance, the damages were significantly greater. The suspects pretended to be lawyers working for a reputable French accounting firm in order to commit the fraud.
The scammer demanded a sizable, urgent, and confidential transfer after winning the victim’s trust. They convinced the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to send millions of euros abroad while posing as advisors. They stole over 38 million euros from the business overall in a sort of days.
“The analysis led to the identification of links between countries to enable the urgent seizure of criminal assets before the suspects could launder them”.
“On the action days, Europol deployed experts to France, Hungary, and Israel to cross-check operational information against Europol’s databases in real-time and provide forensic support on the ground”, Europol.
In order to cross-check operational data against its databases in real-time and give forensic help on the ground, Europol sent experts to France, Hungary, and Israel.
