AI-powered scams and what you can do about them
AI scams are increasing in sophistication and impact. Be vigilant and use multi-factor authentication to protect against identity fraud and fake voice scams.
AI has greatly improved the quality and ease of creating convincing fake media, intensifying traditional scams like voice cloning, phishing, and identity fraud. Scammers can now produce synthetic voices with just a few seconds of audio, making it easier to impersonate loved ones and extract money from victims. Similarly, with personalized phishing, scammers leverage AI to customize spam emails, making them appear more legitimate and harder to distinguish from genuine communications.
The proliferation of data breaches has compounded the threat of identity fraud, enabling scammers to use AI to create convincing fake personas. These personas can bypass traditional identity verification methods and gain access to sensitive accounts. Multi-factor authentication and vigilant monitoring of account activities are essential defenses against such threats.
Deepfakes, another emerging AI-driven threat, facilitate blackmail without needing real intimate images. These fakes can be convincingly tailored to specific victims, leading to extortion threats. However, although challenging, victims can fight back through legal means and by leveraging flaws in the AI-generated images.