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Dark Side of the Boom

How Scammers Hijacked the AI Revolution

Dark Side of the Boom is a wakeup call to the immediate and sinister side of the AI revolution that has been lost amidst the headline-grabbing futurist debates. Digital fraud is now the fastest growing crime in the world, impacting Americans young and old to the tune of over $100 billion in annual losses. Author Patrick Coughlin draws on decades of experience in cybersecurity to shed a new light on today’s AI-powered cybercriminals. The result is an engaging and compelling guide to deception in the AI era and how we protect and secure what matters most to us all.

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ISBN 978-1-63908-198-1 · Fast Company Press

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Praise for Dark Side of the Boom

  • As Patrick Coughlin says in his incisive, elegant book, there are only two kinds of people in the world today: those who have been scammed and those who will soon be scammed. Read him for a compelling history of how we got to this terrifying place, and to defend yourself properly for the inevitability.

    — Vanessa Grigoriadis, contributing writer at Vanity Fair and the New York Times

  • Cyber crime pays and powered by AI, it can make a victim of any of us. Coughlin’s timely guide to the dark side can teach you how to stay safe.

    — Richard A. Clarke, author of bestseller Cyber War and first US Special Advisor to the President for Cyber Space

  • Financial caregiving is a growing part of the Care Economy and a role that many of the 63 million unpaid family caregivers serve. As more older adults become vulnerable to the new types of financial scammers armed with sophisticated AI tools, caregivers must learn how to protect them. Dark Side of the Boom provides an essential guide on how to recognize the different types of scams, and important ways to prevent them from harming those you care about.

    — Susan Golden, Stanford University Lecturer and Author STAGE (Not Age)

  • I have been inside the scam compounds in Cambodia where this misery gets manufactured. Patrick Coughlin gets it right. Dark Side of the Boom is a thriller, an investigation, and a survival guide rolled into one. Read it. Then hand it to everyone you love.

    — Erin West, Founder of Operation Shamrock, former Deputy District Attorney, and one of the nation's leading prosecutors of AI-enabled financial fraud

About Patrick Coughlin

Patrick Coughlin is a cybersecurity and technology expert with over two decades of hands-on experience at the intersection of technology, intelligence, and security. His debut book, Dark Side of the Boom, reveals the human cost of the growing AI-powered scam economy, explores the organized criminal networks and black-market engines that power it.

About the Author