As scam campaigns grow more sophisticated, cybersecurity advocate calls for national ‘scam czar’

Industrialized scams are outpacing public defenses, and one of the country’s leading cyber educators says it’s time for the U.S. to respond with a more unified front.

Lisa Plaggemier, executive director of the National Cybersecurity Alliance, is calling for the creation of a national “scam czar” to help coordinate the growing number of agencies, companies and nonprofits working to combat large-scale online fraud.

“I do not think it would be a bad idea if we had a scam czar at this point because the adversary is so well organized,” Plaggemier said on the Cyber Focus podcast. “There’s five or six of these scam centers with hundreds of thousands of people in them. And they’re growing.”

The episode arrives at the start of Cybersecurity Awareness Month – an annual campaign that Plaggemier’s organization helped found. While the initiative began with a focus on phishing and password hygiene, the scale and sophistication of today’s threats are driving new conversations about cross-sector collaboration and public risk.

Fattened with trust, butchered by fraud

Among the most chilling examples discussed is a scam known as pig butchering – a term used by Chinese criminal syndicates to describe victims as “a pig to be butchered,” fattened up with fake trust before being wiped out financially. “Even though it’s kind of a crude term,” Plaggemier said, “it really brings it home.”

Scammers are using deepfake videos, fake crypto exchanges and fabricated earnings statements to manipulate victims – often older adults – into draining their savings.

“Older folks are targeted less often, but when they fall victim, the dollar amounts are very high. They have their whole life savings at stake,” Plaggemier said. 

Unlike critical infrastructure sectors, which share threat information through dedicated Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs), Plaggemier pointed out the general public – particularly older, less tech-savvy users – lacks any comparable protection. “There’s no ISAC for my mom,” she said. 

Plaggemier argued that even when banks or call centers recognize that a customer is being defrauded, privacy and liability concerns often limit their ability to intervene effectively, or share fraud-related signals across sectors. Without protections similar to those that cover ISACs, many organizations opt to stay siloed.

“I don’t know how you get that private-sector, cross-sector data sharing happening in a real meaningful way without the government playing a role,” she said. “I think there needs to be some legal cover there.”

From comedy campaigns to K–12 classrooms

Some ad hoc efforts are already underway, with small groups of companies and nonprofits exchanging insights. But Plaggemier says those efforts haven’t been scaled.

Despite these challenges, Plaggemier’s team continues to build campaigns that resonate – leaning on creativity, behavioral science and plain language instead of fear or jargon. Their “Kubikle” comedy series has reached millions, and the “Then & Now” campaign offers a simplified guide tailored for aging adults navigating digital threats.

“We are a tiny nonprofit of nine people and we reach billions of people every October,” she said.

Now, as this year’s awareness push reaches K-12 classrooms and first-time tech users alike, Plaggemier hopes to spark a broader conversation – not just about protecting individuals, but about treating scam prevention as a matter of national coordination and shared responsibility.

Find the full conversation here.