What happens when the person behind the screen isn’t who they say they are?

In this episode of Heart & Hazard, we sit down with Landon Winkelvoss, former CIA analyst and CEO and Co-Founder of Backgrounder, to explore the increasingly sophisticated world of online military scams, military personnel impersonation, and digital deception.

With more than a decade of experience across the CIA, Department of Defense, and Department of State, Landon brings a rare perspective on how bad actors operate, how technology and AI are changing the scam landscape, and what everyday people can do to better protect themselves from military scams.

We dig into the psychology and tactics behind military impersonation, the warning signs that something may not be adding up, and why trusting your gut still matters in a world where fake identities are becoming harder to spot.

Because when you’re meeting people online, protecting your heart sometimes means protecting your identity, too.

Landon Winkelvoss is the CEO and Co-Founder of Backgrounder. Backgrounder stops scams and impersonations by giving businesses and their customers access to a private platform that leverages AI, publicly available data, and security experts to prevent scams.

He previously co-founded Nisos in 2015 to keep people and organizations safe from e-crime, disinformation, fraud, physical threats, IP theft, and abuse of digital platforms. We impose costs and consequences by unmasking adversaries to reduce risk. Nisos engineers intelligence and investigations at scale through Ascend, an AI-powered data platform focused on executive protection, insider threat, and identity protection.

Backgrounder is backed by Paladin Capital Group, Skylab Capital, and Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, as well as a group of angel investors who are also world-class security leaders. Landon Winkelvoss also serves on the Board of Directors and Advisors of Nisos with Columbia Capital, Paladin Capital Group, and Skylab Capital. Prior to founding Nisos, I spent 10 years as an analyst with CIA, DOD, and Department of State, including multiple warzone deployments and overseas postings.

Any scam. Any Device. Any Channel. Running in the Background. Visit them at www.backgrounder.com

What does it actually sound like when a romance fraud victim calls for help for the first time? Ally Armeson knows. As Executive Director of FightCybercrime.org, she's taken those calls, run the recovery groups, and watched the patterns evolve in real time — and what she's seeing should wake all of us up.

In this episode, Ally and I talk about the moment victims finally reach out (and why it often takes years), how crypto investment fraud grows out of romance scams, why being scammed once makes you a prime target for being scammed again, and what actually helps people heal. We also get into the reframe that changes everything: scammers don't exploit your vulnerabilities. They exploit your kindness, your hope, and your desire to take care of the people you love.

This one hit differently. I think you'll feel it too.

GUEST BIO

Ally Armeson is the Executive Director of FightCybercrime.org, where she leads national initiatives to help individuals and communities recognize, report, and recover from cybercrime. A former U.S. Army service member with over a decade of experience, Ally developed and led humanitarian and community recovery programs in vulnerable regions globally. For the past four years, she and her team have worked directly with survivors of online fraud, building and operating one of the only structured, outcomes-tracked peer support programs for romance fraud and crypto investment fraud victims in the country. She holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.

ABOUT FIGHTCYBERCRIME.ORG

FightCybercrime.org is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to empowering individuals to recognize, report, and recover from cybercrime. They provide free, virtual peer support groups for survivors of romance fraud and crypto investment fraud, each led by licensed counselors and designed specifically for those who have experienced severe financial and emotional harm. Beyond direct services, FightCybercrime develops prevention resources, collaborates with law enforcement and consumer protection agencies, and advocates for solutions that better protect fraud victims nationwide.

🌐 fightcybercrime.org 🌐 scamspotter.org

Most people think getting scammed is about missing red flags. It's not. It's about being human.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Martina Dove, a scam psychology expert who spent years researching the exact mechanisms that make fraud work — the psychology of trust, the architecture of manipulation, and why smart people hand over money to strangers.

We talk about what actually makes people vulnerable (spoiler: it's not intelligence), why dating platforms are fraud playgrounds, and what it takes to build systems that protect people instead of just educating them to be smarter. Martina walks us through the Barnum effect, synthetic fraud, and why meeting in person matters more than we think.

This conversation is about taking the shame out of vulnerability. Because if we're serious about building safer systems, we need to start with what actually makes people susceptible — not what we think should protect them.

About Dr. Martina Dove: Dr. Martina Dove is a research and product strategy consultant and scam psychology subject matter expert. Her work focuses on the human side of fraud, exploring the factors that can make people more vulnerable to scams, as well as the persuasion techniques fraudsters use to manipulate their victims.

With a background in user experience research and product strategy, Martina helps organizations design more effective fraud prevention strategies by better understanding user behavior, decision-making, and points of vulnerability.

Martina is especially passionate about destigmatizing fraud victimization and empowering people to recognize and resist scammers' tactics. She is committed to fighting fraud through education and awareness, helping individuals spot even the most sophisticated scam techniques. She has published a book on fraud psychology, actively supports fraud prevention non-profits, and regularly writes for industry blogs on fraud and consumer protection.

Connect with Martina: Website: martinadove.com

Get Martina's Book: The Psychology of Fraud, Persuasion and Scam Techniques https://www.routledge.com/The-Psychology-of-Fraud-Persuasion-and-Scam-Techniques-Understanding-What-Makes-Us-Vulnerable/Dove/p/book/9781032953908

Join Pare Dating today — where everyone's verified and safety actually comes first. paredating.com