Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the source of several amazing new tools. It is not just a matter for businesses and creative people to take advantage of. Hackers are also using AI to create scams that are faster, more accurate, and more believable.
You may feel that you are clever enough to recognize a scam. Unfortunately,, modern scams understand user behavior and have become sophisticated enough to deceive even the most discerning technology users.
Let us show how cybercriminals are using AI to manage their scams and learn from your mistakes.
How Hackers Use AI to Find Victims
Hackers often start by stealing or cloning social media profiles. They then use AI-fueled bots to access public information—photos, bios, posts, and friend lists. The bots that the scammers use are so powerful that they can generate accounts that look exactly like real people.
AI-powered tools reach and find useful, easy targets. Once inside the network, they follow the steps to review past conversations to identify the ties between contacts.
AI-based chatbots can then reach their target by their personal details and request a money transfer or send an emergency message along with an At, thinking you are really in trouble.
AI-Powered Scams to Watch Out For
1. AI- Phishing and Smishing Attacks
Ah, phishing! Who hasn’t heard of it? (via email) Smishing is even more dangerous. AI technology leads to higher efficiency but also higher risks in this situation. Historically, phishing attacks were contented with throwing the pitch into a sea of potential targets.
In contrast, as AI becomes increasingly sophisticated, virtual scammers are now capable of launching pinpoint attacks that are widely broadcast, considering the unique characteristics of each target and directed towards individuals in particular.
2. AI Romance Scams
Romance scams take advantage of emotional vulnerability and normally require weeks or months to gradually build trust before asking for money. However, with AI chatbots in charge of the conversations and deepfake technology for texting and video calls, these scams have never been this scalable.
A neuroscientist in the UK reported that he was deceived by a romance scam involving a fraudulent real oil rig worker and AI-generated videos. As a result, he lost thousands, although the person was not virtual.
3. Fake Customer Support Scams
Scammers pose as support representatives from financial institutions, ISPs, or tech companies. If AI programs are composed using call center scripts, we are dealing with fake support chats that are probably even more credible than human ones in terms of speech and intonation.
They can reach out to you independently, or you may encounter them while looking for help online. The outcome will still be the same: they will guide you to an attacker-managed login page, and as a result, your login credentials will be stolen.
At times, the situation flips up when AI bots contact real services on your behalf to change your passwords or get into your accounts.
4. AI-Powered Misinformation Campaigns
Hackers are also using artificial intelligence to disseminate untruths. For example, these bots produce false news articles, talk like real individuals in the comments, stories and generate a mass of counterfactual news so that they can achieve their objectives—using the power of the public to achieve the goal or lure more people to their malevolent sites.
Often, these bots come across as real users, using realistic profiles, fake photos, and AI-generated bios. Furthermore, the fake news created that way exacerbates the problem of misinformation. It spreads very fast.
How to Stay Safe Against AI Scams
Old-fashioned ways of deceiving became much quicker, cheaper, and also more authentic. Nevertheless, the frauds still count on human mistakes. There are some ideas on what to do to be active in the struggle against the use of your personal information by scammers:
- Limit yourself on social media. Scammers need as much information as possible, so be careful what you disclose about yourself and to whom. Who are you, where are you, when is your birthday, and how is your family?
- Check Strange Requests Before executing any unusual request originating from acquaintances or the companies you do business with, it is recommended that you validate it via social media or other means of communication.
- Becoming a Deepfakes Watcher: New video calls should be handled with care, especially those from other people. Look for a verified sender and examine his/her followers’ reactions.
- Take Your Time Before Clicking. Reject any message or website that negatively affects you and the community, no matter its source, except if it’s from a friend. Inspect the images very closely. Do the words match the visuals? Are the people in the video realistically present?
- Minimize Deception Messages Get consent from an outside source, such as the broadcaster of the instant news, and from multiple other high-quality sources. Often, bots use names that contain only numbers when posting comments.
