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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 25 noveMber 2019
Isolated Iceland newly vulnerable to computer scams

By EGILL BJARNASON Experts say that as artifi-
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) cial intelligence improved,
— "Hi, I hope you are not translation apps only really
busy?" became good enough at
The treasurer of the Icelan- Icelandic around 2018.
dic soccer club Afturelding That was just months after
got the email from his man- the government removed
ager late in the afternoon, limits on the amount of
soon before banks were money that could be trans-
about to close. The words ferred out of the country
"Sent from my iPhone" were that had been imposed
at the bottom, suggest- since the financial crisis
ing urgency, and through over a decade ago.
a series of exchanges, the It was like foreign scam-
manager asked that a mers had been waiting for
quick payment be made. the day, police said.
It was a scam, perpetrated Cases of online fraud be-
from someone posing as gan piling up, with the num-
the club manager - and ber this year about six times
part of a sudden rush of on- higher than the year be-
line fraud that is catching fore, according to Lands-
Icelanders unprepared. bankinn, a large commer-
Online apps have now cial bank. Victims rarely get
become good at translat- In this photo taken Monday Oct. 28, 2019, fishmonger Kristjan Asgeirsson is seen at work in Reyk- their money back.
ing the country's complex javik, Iceland. In most countries, Tandle
language, a version of Associated Press said, people learn to be
Old Norse spoken only by cautious online because
about 400,000 people. And shaken this year by some- makes," such as awkward scheme meant to defraud. someone around them has
the government has lifted one posing as the CEO or capitalization and syntax, Icelandic was introduced been scammed or hurt by
limits on money transfers chairman seeking a swift said police detective Dadi to Google Translate in messages with malicious
out of the country that had payment. By using Google Gunnarsson. "But it reads 2009, earlier than many software. The country's iso-
been imposed since the Translate or Microsoft's remarkably well, and that other more widely spoken lation from such trends until
financial crisis. The combi- Translator - the two apps fools many." languages as a Reykja- recently made its sudden
nation over the past two that can translate Icelan- Recent scams have vík-born employee at the exposure all the more pain-
years has attracted scam- dic - the criminals were amounted to the largest tech company wanted his ful.
mers to target a population able to sound credible, po- thefts the island nation has mother tongue included The rule of thumb, experts
that has not developed lice say. ever seen. Geothermal en- as soon as possible. Doz- advise, is to always re-
the same habits of caution Known as "CEO fraud" - ergy company HS Orka re- ens of students and faculty spond to financial inquiries
about online fraud as other when criminals pose as cently lost $1.5 million and at Reykjavík University vol- through a different me-
such wealthy, high-tech high-ranking executives a total of $13 million has unteered to help Google dium, like replying to an
countries. after thoroughly research- been lost to foreign scam- gather samples for voice email with a phone call.
"The trick is always the ing the company structure mers over the past twelve recognition. Icelanders pride them-
same, but the Icelandic - the scams did not exist months, the police esti- Still, the translations were selves on their sense of
gets better and better," at Icelandic workplaces mate. incomplete and spotty for community and have one
said Audur Thorsteinsdóttir, in the early days of online In another case, a series many years. of the highest levels of "so-
manager of The Icelandic translators. Software of- of promoted ads on social "The learning curve has cial trust" in surveys measur-
Youth Association, an um- fered poor, often comically media promised to ex- been steep for Iceland," ing people's belief in each
brella organization regu- inaccurate, results: Icelan- plain how to bounce back said Morten Tandle, direc- other and in honesty and
larly warning member clubs dic for "youth" for example, from bankruptcy. The link tor of the Nordic Financial integrity.
against fraud emails. was translated as meaning brought users to a web- Cert, a Norway-based or- "Social trust is the desired
Large and small enterpris- "Youtube." The apps have site mimicking a respect- ganization coordinating quality of every society,"
es, from vehicle inspection since improved. ed business paper, with cyber security responses said Gunnar Helgi Kristins-
companies to residents' "The text has the kind of its trademark pink back- between large companies son, a politics professor at
associations, have been errors Google Translate ground. It was a bitcoin in the region. the University of Iceland.q

Musk touts 146,000 orders for Tesla's

electric pickup truck

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Elon the wedge-shaped "Cy- window glass splintered
Musk says Tesla has re- bertruck" since is unveiling twice when hit with a large
ceived nearly 150,000 or- Thursday night. metal ball. Some analysts
ders for its new electric Musk said 17% of the orders panned the truck's blocky,
pickup truck since the au- are for the single-motor angular looks.
tomaker revealed the fu- model, 42% are for the du- Placing an order costs buy-
turistic vehicle earlier this al-motor version and 41% ers $100, which Tesla says
In this Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, file photo, Tesla CEO Elon Musk week to mixed reviews. are for the tri-motor model. is fully refundable. Tesla
introduces the Cybertruck at Tesla's design studio in Hawthorne, The Tesla CEO tweeted Sat- The much-hyped unveil- has said the "Cybertruck,"
Calif. urday that the company ing went off script when its which starts at $39,900, will
Associated Press received 146,000 orders for supposedly unbreakable be in production in 2021.q