We have entered a rather troubling era and we all need to participate in solutions, soon! The volume of fake inquiries, fraudsters posing as someone else, combined with the massive levels of distrust of anything and everything is alarming at best.

Be careful what you click on. Pause before doing so! Digital fraud has reached crisis levels, with reported losses to cyber-enabled crime in the U.S. alone hitting $16.6 billion in 2025, up 33% from 2024. Roughly 73% of U.S. adults have experienced an online scam or attack, with over 1 in 5 losing money to these threats.

The recent horrific events in Washington DC led to comments on multiple social media posts. What was the most common theme of the posts? The gunman and the shooting were fake, staged (before we know all the facts). And yes, it's rather troubling that an incident like this could happen in a high-security setting. The volume of distrust of almost everything is growing, and for very clear reasons. Our world has armed criminals with all the tools they need to be really, really good at crime. Easy access to arms and ammunition and equally diverse and large options to perform crimes via our digital sphere with too few guardrails/protections. Digital criminals are far less visible, if not invisible. Worse, some leaders and voices that people do trust are flaunting their crimes and frauds (and how they are getting away with it - 24/7) while enriching themselves rather dramatically in the process.

When elected leaders flaunt their "abuses", it sets the tone that this sort of behavior is OK. Well, if it's Ok for them, surely it's OK for me too? A recent podcast featured two trusted, respected voices speaking boldly on a medium heard by millions about how they justified their past shoplifting experiences. When those who too many in our world idolize preach proudly about their lawlessness, we are in serious trouble. When those who provide the tools to perform these frauds are left to do as they please without any prevention or law enforcement or serious consequences for illegal actions, we have a crisis.