Latest news with #Nicoletti
The Guardian
21-04-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘He was humble and close to the people': Catholics pay respects to Pope Francis
Bill Nicoletti and his family, from Philadelphia, were among the thousands gathered in St Peter's Square for Easter Sunday mass when Pope Francis arrived in his open-air popemobile. The vehicle cruised through the square, stopping occasionally for the pontiff to bless babies that were brought towards him, as the delighted crowd shouted 'Viva il papa! (long live the pope!)'. At the end of the mass, Francis appeared from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica to wish the crowd a happy Easter and give a blessing. He looked frail, and struggled to speak. His brief Easter message, which was read aloud on the balcony by an aide, reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The next morning, Francis, 88, was dead. 'I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't think of his illness,' said Nicoletti, who returned to St Peter's Square to pay his respects on Monday. 'Then when my daughter called me this morning to say he had died, I was very surprised. To me it feels like it was a divine intervention – God wanted him to live until Easter, and then he left. It was a joyous day. I now feel sad but also moved to be here for his historic moment for the [Catholic] faith.' Francis died on Monday while convalescing after a severe bout of pneumonia. Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, will preside over the rite of the certification of death and the placing of the pope's body in a coffin in the chapel of the pontiff's home at Casa Santa Marta at 8pm CET on Monday. The pope's remains will be transferred to St Peter's basilica on Wednesday, when the public will be able to pay tribute. As of Monday night, the date of his funeral had not been announced but papal funerals usually take place between four and six days after death. The canonisation of the Catholic church's first millennial saint, Carlo Acutis, which had been scheduled for 27 April, has been suspended. Nicoletti, who also saw Francis when he visited Philadelphia in 2015, was among the thousands of pilgrims and tourists mourning the pope at St Peter's Square. At around midday, the bells of the basilica rang out and the square fell almost silent. Father Jacopo Aprico was visiting Rome with a group of schoolchildren from Milan. They heard the news that the pope had died when they were on the train. 'His death was expected because he had been so ill, but we were still surprised,' said Aprico. 'He was only in this square yesterday. It is sad – you can never be prepared for someone's death, regardless of how old or ill they might be.' Wilder Herrera was in Rome with his girlfriend, both from Colombia. He recalled seeing Francis, originally from Argentina, when he visited his hometown, close to Bogotá, in 2017. 'We wanted to pay our respects,' said Herrera. 'Francis was a great pope, someone who was very humble and close to the people,' said Herrera. Alice and her family were in Rome for the Easter weekend from Catania in Sicily. 'It feels as if he wanted to wait for Easter Sunday to give his blessing and say goodbye,' she said. 'Then he left us for heaven.' Francis, who almost died twice during his five-week hospitalisation, was discharged from Rome's Gemelli hospital on 23 March and ordered by doctors to rest at home for at least two months. Although his official work duties were vastly scaled back, he made several appearances in recent weeks, the most daring being a visit to St Peter's basilica, wearing a poncho-like top and black trousers, in order to thank the restorers finishing up the restoration of the 17th century tomb of Pope Urban VIII. He also privately met King Charles and Queen Camilla during their recent state visit to Italy and on Maundy Thursday kept up the tradition of visiting inmates at Rome's Regina Coeli prison. One of the last people to see him was the US vice-president, JD Vance, who was in the Italian capital for the Easter weekend and met Francis on Easter Sunday morning, an encounter that was not previously scheduled. Francis had always pushed the limits throughout his 12-year papacy, so that he ventured out despite still being ill was not surprising. He had embarked on more than 40 overseas trips during his time as pontiff, the longest and most arduous one being his four-country tour of Asia last September. His final overseas trip was to Corsica in December. Later that month he opened the Catholic Jubilee, a special year of forgiveness and reconciliation during which millions will travel to Rome, and maintained an intense schedule before being hospitalised in mid-February. Francis simplified rites for papal funerals last year and previously said he had already planned his tomb in the basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in the Esquilino neighbourhood in Rome, where he went to pray before and after trips overseas. Popes are usually buried with much fanfare in the grottoes beneath St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Amid intense mourning over the coming days and weeks, manoeuvring within the Vatican over who will succeed Francis will begin, with a conclave needing to get underway within 20 days of the pope's death. Mourners in St Peter's Square are also contemplating his successor. 'I hope the next pope will be a continuation of Francis' papacy,' said Nicoletti.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Scammers are getting smarter. Here are their most common tricks
Recent Federal Trade Commission data shows American consumers lost more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023 — the highest total ever recorded. And with fraudsters constantly switching their tactics and using AI to make their schemes more convincing, it'll only get harder for consumers to spot red flags. 'Scams vary in scale and process, but all result in the victim's participation in a fraudulent operation,' said Alexander Hall, a former fraudster and trust and safety architect at Sift. 'Typically, these operations are used to extract value in four forms: identity information, account information, payment information and authorized payments.' As technology advances, so do the tactics scammers use to exploit unsuspecting victims. Here are some of the most popular financial frauds to watch for. AI-driven impersonation. With AI-driven impersonation scams, fraudsters use artificial intelligence to create highly realistic fake audio or video messages to impersonate trusted individuals or organizations. 'These deepfake scams can convincingly mimic voices and appearances, deceiving victims into transferring money or divulging sensitive information,' said Pete Nicoletti, Check Point's global chief information security officer for the Americas. 'Plus, the sophistication of AI makes these scams increasingly difficult to detect.' Phishing emails and messages. A phishing scam is when cybercriminals send emails or messages that appear to be from legitimate sources, like banks or reputable companies, to make the recipients click on malicious links or provide personal information. 'These phishing attempts often create a sense of urgency so that they could pressure individuals to act quickly without verifying the authenticity of the request,' Nicoletti said. Investment and cryptocurrency scams. These scams are on the rise, with fraudsters taking advantage of people looking for quick and easy profits. According to the 2023 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report by the Internet Crime Complaint Center, losses from cryptocurrency-related investment fraud schemes reported to the complaint center rose from $2.57 billion in 2022 to $3.96 billion in 2023. With these types of scams, fraudsters will promise you high returns on investments, particularly in emerging markets like cryptocurrencies. 'They may use fake platforms or impersonate financial advisors to gain trust,' Nicoletti said. 'Once victims invest, the fraudsters disappear with the funds, leaving investors with significant losses.' Tech support scams. Tech support scams happen when fraudsters pretend to be technical support representatives from well-known companies, claiming that your device is compromised. 'They'll persuade you to grant remote access to your computer or to pay for unnecessary software or services, which could lead to serious financial loss and potential identity theft,' Nicoletti said. Romance scams. 'Romance scams have become the quintessential con, wherein a bad actor manipulates their target into establishing a digital relationship via phone calls, video calls, text messages and more,' Hall said. 'Once trust has been established, the bad actor claims to need money and coerces the victim to send funds.' According to the FTC Consumer Sentinel Data Book, reported losses to romance scams totaled $1.14 billion in 2023, with the median losses per person being $2,000 — the highest reported losses for any form of imposter scam. So if you're an avid online dater, be extra careful of these types of deceptions. Jacob Kalvo, a cybersecurity expert and founder and CEO of Live Proxie, says there are a few giveaways that you might be dealing with a financial scam. If a message feels rushed, has slight inconsistencies or comes from a sketchy-looking email address, you'll want to proceed with caution. 'If it's a deepfake scam, you'll often notice subtle irregularities like lip-sync mismatch, unnatural pauses while speaking and weird facial movements. You can catch these by analyzing the video frame by frame,' he said. 'And even though AI is building grammatically perfect phishing emails, most still have very minor inconsistencies in tone, strange URL patterns or attachments demanding immediate downloads.' The most straightforward way to become less susceptible to online financial fraud is to think before you click. 'If you get an email or text claiming there's an urgent issue with your bank account, a package delivery, a prize you've won or a service you use, don't click on any links,' Nicoletti said. 'Instead, visit the official website directly by typing the address into your browser.' You'll also want to take concrete steps to protect your accounts. Start by creating strong and hard-to-guess passwords for every site. Yes, it's annoying to remember multiple passwords, but using the same one everywhere makes you an easy target. To make your life easier, Nicoletti suggests installing a password manager on your device to store your passwords securely. For added security, you'll also want to enable two-step verification on your important accounts. 'Just make sure your phone can receive text or email alerts for password changes,' Nicoletti said. And if you're asked to set up security questions when you create an account online, don't use obvious answers. Instead, Nicoletti recommends using unrelated answers to make it harder to guess. For example, if the question is "where were you born?" make the answer something like "green," so that fraudster will be less likely to guess it right since it doesn't make sense. Nicoletti also recommends taking the following steps to strengthen your online protection: Set up alerts on your accounts to notify you of changes Visit to see if your email or passwords have been leaked in a data breach Install antivirus software like ZoneAlarm and scan your devices routinely Use a VPN when browsing online to keep your connection private Change the default password on your home router and make sure your Wi-Fi uses a strong password Never provide sensitive information like Social Security numbers or banking details over email, text or social media messages Use fingerprint, PIN or facial recognition on your mobile devices Use incognito mode when browsing sensitive sites Enable pop-up blockers to prevent malicious ads from appearing Avoid storing passwords directly in your browser Falling victim to financial fraud can be extremely devastating because it undoes years of your hard work and savings in an instant. So, if you haven't already, take some time to go through the steps above to safeguard your finances. And remember: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
