Artificial Intelligence Scams: How AI is Transforming The World of Fraud

Podcast Transcription

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Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Money Talk. So a few weeks back, we had Caroline from our fraud department come on the podcast and talk about a bunch of different fraud and scams. Now today I'm going to focus on artificial intelligence scams, what to look out for, how to prevent these scams, and some real-life examples. Now artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly popular and with this new technology, we have been able to make some remarkable innovations that otherwise would not have been possible. From being a tool to help individuals to diagnosing health problems. However, with this good comes a lot of evil. AI has made the world of scamming easier for scammers and scarier for the victims. If you simply search AI scams on Google, you will see news articles posted every few hours warning individuals of these scams. Now you've probably heard of scams where scammers use tactics like emails that claim to be your credit union asking for information such as your account number or social security number. However, there's a new tactic emerging where scammers are able to clone your voice. Yes, this is as scary as it sounds. So, AI needs as little as 3 seconds of someone talking to successfully clone their voice. Scammers are able to get videos of your voice through social media and other digital platforms. And once a voice has been cloned, scammers will find as much information about you as possible. Things like where you work, who your friends are. And these scammers will then take this cloned voice and the information that they found and then call a family member or friend of the individual. Artificial intelligence even makes it possible to change the tone of your voice to sound scared or angry. For example, you might receive a call from your husband saying that he's been kidnapped and needs you to transfer $1,000 to a certain bank account to free him. Advanced tools actually let these scammers respond in real time by simply typing out responses in an AI generated platform. Scammers are able to have conversations with their victims that sound legitimate. It is important to stay knowledgeable and educated on recent scams. So, I found a news article of a real story that I wanted to share. According to a Business Insider article called The Rise of AI Phone Scams, Eddie Cumberbatch was in his apartment when he received a call from his dad asking if everything was alright and if he'd been in a car accident. Now, Eddie thought that this was a really weird question for his dad to ask. His dad explained that someone called their home phone claiming to be Eddie. The person on the phone was saying that they had been in a car accident and that they needed money. Now luckily, Eddie's father was suspicious and called Eddie's phone to try and verify the story. And it turns out Eddie's family was a victim of this new AI scam. So, this story just proves that anyone can become a victim of scam or fraud, especially with this new technology. So how do you ensure that you don't get caught up in scams like these? One piece of advice that professionals are giving is to create a code word between you and your close friends and family. Another piece of advice is just try not to upload videos of yourself talking on social media, and if you do, make sure your account is private. I know this is easier said than done, but I think the biggest piece of advice is just try to keep your social media accounts private. Now it's also important to keep information about yourself private. Scammers can use information like where you work, who your friends are, and whether or not you are on vacation. So again, just try to keep your social media accounts private. If you suspect that you are involved in a voice cloning scam, the best thing to do is just to hang up and call the person back. Scammers are actually able to make phone calls look like they are coming from the individual they are impersonating. So, for example, you receive a call, and the caller ID might say mom or grandpa or even their phone number. And finally, always contact law enforcement. Whether you're dealing with a real kidnapping or a scam, you're going to want to get the authorities involved either way. And as always with fraud and scams, listen to your gut. If something feels off, contact your credit union. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

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