Scams are nothing new—fraud has existed as long as human greed, but what changes are the tools.

Scammers thrive on exploiting vulnerable, uninformed users, and they adapt to whatever technologies or trends dominate the moment. In 2025, that means AI, cryptocurrencies and stolen personal data are their weapons of choice.

And, as always, the duty, fear and hope of their targets provide openings. Today, duty often means following instructions from bosses or co-workers, who scammers can impersonate. Fear is that a loved one, who scammers can also impersonate, is in danger. And hope is often for an investment scheme or job opportunity to pay off.

AI-powered scams and deepfakes

Artificial intelligence is no longer niche—it’s cheap, accessible and effective. While businesses use AI for advertising and customer support, scammers exploit the same tools to mimic reality, with disturbing precision.

Criminals are using AI-generated audio or video to impersonate CEOs, managers or even family members in distress. Employees have been tricked into transferring money or leaking sensitive data. Over 105,000 such deepfake attacks were recorded in the U.S. in 2024, costing more than US$200 million in the first quarter of 2025 alone. Victims often cannot distinguish synthetic voices or faces from real ones.

Fraudsters are also using emotional manipulation. The scammers make phone calls or send convincing AI-written texts posing as relatives or friends in distress. Elderly victims in particular fall prey when they believe a grandchild or other family member is in urgent trouble. The Federal Trade Commission has outlined how scammers use fake emergencies to pose as relatives.

Cryptocurrency scams

Crypto remains the Wild West of finance—fast, unregulated and ripe for exploitation.

Pump-and-dump scammers artificially inflate the price of a cryptocurrency through hype on social media to lure investors with promises of huge returns—the pump—and then sell off their holdings—the dump—leaving victims with worthless tokens.

Pig butchering is a hybrid of romance scams and crypto fraud. Scammers build trust over weeks or months before persuading victims to invest in fake crypto platforms. Once the scammers have extracted enough money from the victim, they vanish.

Scammers also use cryptocurrencies as a means of extracting money from people in impersonation scams and other forms of fraud. For example, scammers direct victims to bitcoin ATMs to deposit large sums of cash and convert it to the untraceable cryptocurrency as payment for fictitious fines.

Phishing, smishing, tech support and jobs

Old scams don’t die; they evolve.

Phishing and smishing have been around for years. Victims are tricked into clicking links in emails or text messages, leading to malware downloads, credential theft or ransomware attacks. AI has made these lures eerily realistic, mimicking corporate tone, grammar and even video content.

Tech support scams often start with pop-ups on computer screens that warn of viruses or identity theft, urging users to call a number. Sometimes they begin with a direct cold call to the victim. Once the victim is on a call with the fake tech support, the scammers convince victims to grant remote access to their supposedly compromised computers. Once inside, scammers install malware, steal data, demand payment or all three.

Fake websites and listings are another current type of scam. Fraudulent sites impersonating universities or ticket sellers trick victims into paying for fake admissions, concerts or goods.

One example is when a website for “Southeastern Michigan University” came online and started offering details about admission. There is no such university. Eastern Michigan University filed a complaint that Southeastern Michigan University was copying its website and defrauding unsuspecting victims.

The rise of remote and gig work has opened new fraud avenues.

Victims are offered fake jobs with promises of high pay and flexible hours. In reality, scammers extract “placement fees” or harvest sensitive personal data such as Social Security numbers and bank details, which are later used for identity theft.

How you can protect yourself

Technology has changed, but the basic principles remain the same: Never click on suspicious links or download attachments from unknown senders, and enter personal information only if you are sure that the website is legitimate. Avoid using third-party apps or links. Legitimate businesses have apps or real websites of their own.

Enable two-factor authentication wherever possible. It provides security against stolen passwords. Keep software updated to patch security holes. Most software allows for automatic updates or warns about applying a patch.

Remember that a legitimate business will never ask for personal information or a money transfer. Such requests are a red flag.

Relationships are a trickier matter. The state of California provides details on how people can avoid being victims of pig butchering.

Technology has supercharged age-old fraud. AI makes deception virtually indistinguishable from reality, crypto enables anonymous theft, and the remote-work era expands opportunities to trick people. The constant: Scammers prey on trust, urgency and ignorance. Awareness and skepticism remain your best defense.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Solar power is now the cheapest form of electricity in most countries, including New Zealand, and its global uptake is growing exponentially.

So far, New Zealand’s adoption of solar electricity generation has been slower than elsewhere, but it is accelerating quickly. Scaling up installation could help reduce high consumer energy prices and meet New Zealand’s emissions budgets.

Based on current policies, New Zealand is at risk of exceeding its emissions budget for the period from 2026 to 2030, and current plans are insufficient to stay within the subsequent five-year budget up to 2035.

The Climate Change Commission estimates solar combined with battery storage could cut 3.9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions between 2031 and 2035.

This is important, as a major part of the government’s plan for cutting emissions over the next five years rested on a carbon capture project at the Kapuni gas field, which seems to have fallen through.

New Zealand is also facing an energy shortage, leading to high electricity prices. But solar could be part of the solution because global reductions in the price of panels mean residential solar is now likely the cheapest option for households.

Solar on the rise

The solar energy reaching Earth each hour is roughly equivalent to a year of humankind’s global energy consumption.

This is not to say our current energy demand should be the target. We need to reduce consumption and use energy more efficiently, even as we continue the shift to more renewable power generation.

But a small fraction of sunlight can go a long way and many countries are taking advantage of this. For example, a consumer-led solar revolution is happening in Pakistan in response to longstanding energy supply problems. This year, solar became the largest source of electricity in Pakistan, surging to 25% of generation from about 5% just three years ago.

The uptake of solar electricity generation is also growing in New Zealand, with a significant uptick in projects for both utility-scale solar farms and household installations.

New Zealand has five large-scale solar farms in operation, and many more in the pipeline (nine at delivery stage, 33 under investigation). We also have more than 65,000 residential solar installations, up from about 7,500 a decade ago.

Despite the rapid growth in recent years, this is still a relatively low adoption rate compared to some other countries, with only about 3-4% of homes having solar installed.

A frequent argument against solar electricity generation is that it is intermittent. But solar panels can use hot water cylinders or batteries to store energy for later use.

And while New Zealand may not get quite as much sunshine as other countries, our existing renewable generation and hydro-lake storage mean we don’t have to invest as much in batteries to buffer intermittent generation.

Also, the flip side of intermittent power sources is that they turn back on—fossil fuels can only be used once.

Managing solar at scale

The energy and emissions-cutting benefits of solar generation are well quantified. Solar panels generate the amount of energy required to manufacture them in less than two years, compared with a total lifetime of about 30 years.

It takes slightly longer to pay back the carbon emissions from their manufacture in New Zealand than elsewhere, because we already have a comparatively high proportion of renewable electricity generation. The carbon payback is faster if solar is used in ways that directly displace fossil fuels (for example, electricity from gas or coal) or if the panels are manufactured in places with low carbon intensity (low emissions per unit of economic activity or energy produced).

There is still work to do. We need to address practical challenges such as effective grid integration and storage, as well as social issues such as ensuring that low-income households aren’t disadvantaged.

Globally, the mining of raw materials for solar panels is a key issue, and we need to ensure ethical supply chains and labor practices associated with materials and manufacture. Ultimately, we need to reach a system where solar panels are recycled to avoid the need for indefinite mining, and to keep panels out of landfills.

This goal looks promising. Solar panel recycling is an active area of research and already possible, although not yet profitable.

As the uptake of solar accelerates, New Zealand should make sure suitable policies are in place. In terms of materials, we should require recycling of solar panels. On the social side, we should ensure support for low-income households and consider incentives for solar installations on rental properties.

Researchers are also exploring next-generation solar power with lower energy and material demands in their manufacture. In most commercial solar panels, the dominant contribution to manufacturing emissions is the silicon “active layer.” There are multiple alternatives to silicon and new technologies use different materials for the active layer.

For example, my research focuses on solution-printable organic semiconductors. These materials absorb light very strongly, which means the active layer is about a thousand times thinner than in a silicon solar panel. A kilogram of material can cover more than 5,000 square meters.

It will take time for these new technologies to reach the same level of development as today’s solar panels. They will likely first enter the market as complementary products such as lightweight installations on low load-bearing surfaces (warehouse roofs) and in building-integrated applications.

Economically viable solar energy generation is a triumph of long-term scientific and engineering development that began in the 1950s and is poised to play a key role in decarbonization. New Zealand needs to think about how to manage this technology at scale if we want to make the most of this opportunity.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Whether you’re in the market for the super-slim new iPhone Air or planning to go big with the iPhone 17 Pro Max, don’t just toss that old phone in a drawer when you upgrade. Sell your iPhone! That old hunk of glass is more valuable than you might think. A handful of services offer cash or store credit for used iPhones. We’ve compared some popular options for trading in an old device. Most of these services accept Samsung and Google devices, and all of them take iPhones.

Updated September 2025: We’ve updated phones and pricing.

Tips to Get a High Resale Price

If you want the maximum resale value for your phone, make sure you take care of it. Buy a good case (check out our guide on picking a good phone case) and consider a screen protector. They’ll keep your device looking new, which is the best way to ensure you get the most money possible when you sell.

Always buy an unlocked phone. This not only gives you the freedom to switch carriers, but you’ll get more for it when you go to sell it. For the past decade, all iPhones in the US have worked on any wireless network. There’s no reason to chain yourself to one carrier. Generally, unless a carrier tells you a phone is unlocked, it probably isn’t, especially if you buy it on a payment plan.

The last thing to do before you run off to cash in your old phone is to back up all your data using iCloud. Be sure to check the option to back up your Messages so iCloud will store your text messages, which sometimes include photos and videos you haven’t saved to your Camera Roll. Remember to unpair your Apple Watch if you have one, and wipe your phone’s data as well.

Best for Reliable Cash

Gazelle is the old hand in the world of used phones. The company has been buying phones since 2006 and has the simplest process we’ve tested. It also doesn’t require you to create an account just to get a quote on your phone.

You fill out an online form and answer some questions about your device—whether it works, which carrier it’s tied to, and whether there’s any cosmetic damage. You’ll then get an offer based on the answers you give. If you accept the offer, Gazelle will send a box complete with a shipping label, and you’ll ship the phone in for inspection. Once the company has looked over your device and verified that it’s in the condition you said it was, you’ll be paid—usually in seven to 10 days. Payment can be in the form of a check, PayPal, or an Amazon gift card.

A factory-unlocked, 128-GB iPhone 16 in pristine condition will get you $469. A 128-GB unlocked iPhone 15 in lightly used condition will net you about $315. Gazelle sometimes runs promotional offers around new device launches, so keep an eye out to snag the best deal.

Best for Pristine iPhones

Courtesy of Swappa

Swappa is an online auction house, something like eBay. It eliminates some of the problems associated with eBay, like high seller fees, poor seller-buyer communication tools, and too many poor-quality devices. You won’t be able to sell your iPhone here unless it’s in good shape, fully functional, and undamaged. You’ll also have to create an account and link it to your PayPal account before you can even see an offer.

So long as your phone meets Swappa’s listing criteria and you’re willing to put in a little effort, this is where you’ll get the most money for your old device. As you would on eBay, you’ll need to put together a listing with photos. Be sure to take the case off your phone, and be honest about the condition. Remember to factor in shipping when setting your sale price.