Don’t believe what you see or hear: Artificial Intelligence scams on the prowl
Published: 03:08 PM,Aug 21,2024 | EDITED : 07:08 PM,Aug 21,2024
Ahmed recently received a voice call from his younger brother Saeed, who was in a vacation with family in Bangkok, Thailand. Saeed lost his wallet and was therefore in distress begging his elder brother Ahmed to help and support by sending money to a designated money transfer web service. Ahmed immediately noted down the web site link, accessed and transferred huge amount of money required by his younger brother Saeed and his family, only to realize a week later that he was actually scammed but in a revolutionary way!. How come? Ahmed was certain that he was speaking to his younger brother Saeed. I personally receive on a periodic basis a lot of videos of public figures, celebrities, politicians and the like who say, act and do strange things, again only to realize, out of experience and being technology savvy of course, that these videos are actually fake (AI generated). Yes, don’t blindly believe what you see and/or hear because these are a new form of scam, yet again using the power of the Artificial Intelligence. Ahmed was scammed via AI voice cloning, while the videos that I, and pretty sure many of you too, receive were a form of AI Deepfake videos.
Last week my article revolved around the most viral traditional form of scams that one may encounter. This week I would like to shed light on contemporary methods of scams that you may encounter (no thanks to the power of the Artificial intelligence). First things first, let us define an AI Scam for you. Quite simply, using AI as a technology to scam people. For those who wish to know more about the traditional scams, kindly refer to my last week article on the same which highlights the definition, forms of scams, techniques, and lastly tips on ways to avoid them. The objective of AI scam is the same i.e. deceiving the victims into extracting money, personal information and the likes. Spotting AI scams is not easy, and knowing about how they work is important for yourself and the loved ones, to stay safe and getting scammed free.
AI Scams come in different forms (and continue to be sophisticated and difficult to spot too). The ones that are on prowl today are AI voice (uses artificial intelligence to replicates human voices), and AI video (generate fake videos) scams. Ahmed, the fiction character I shared at the beginning of my article this week, was an example scamming done using AI voice, while myself and many others, are an example of victims that were almost to be scammed by an AI video scam (also known as Deepfake, a form of AI Scam that impersonates people). Knowing that such sophisticated scam does actually exist helps keep one be aware of the same, for the impact of the unknown is severe that includes financial loss, identity theft, compromise sensitive personal information such as passwords and bank account details, apart from the respected reputation and trust that have been built over the years.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) noted that AI-driven scams have contributed to a significant portion of the $10.3 billion lost to cybercrime in 2022 alone. According to a report I read online, AI-related fraud cases have increased by over 50 per cent in the past few years with losses totaling billions of dollars globally. Clearly an alarming stats that one should be wary about, for whatever happen in the west, can happen in Oman too – we are all connected onto the information super high-away after all.
How can one protect him/herself from AI Scams? There is no easy way as every advancement in AI technology has the potential of also advancing AI scams. Nevertheless, I would like to share a few approaches that I personally follow. As I had mentioned in my previous article, avoid providing personal and/or financial information over the phone unless you were the one that initiated, made the call and are certain of the call’s identity and legitimacy too. Also, if in doubt, hang up the phone and verify the identity of the caller through official channels and authorized bodies. With reference to the video, look for unnatural pauses or robotic-sounding speech (although this is becoming difficult to spot). Lastly, report the suspicious voice calls and videos received to relevant authorities in order to help prevent others from falling victim.
One cannot deny that Artificial Intelligence as a technology is transforming our world for the better and we have seen many tools that helps keep individual and organizations productive as a result. Nevertheless as we have seen in my article today, Artificial Intelligence also presents new opportunities for scammers. Staying informed and keeping oneself updated is a sure way to protect against the rising threat of AI scams. Until we catch up again next week, stay safe and be positive.
Last week my article revolved around the most viral traditional form of scams that one may encounter. This week I would like to shed light on contemporary methods of scams that you may encounter (no thanks to the power of the Artificial intelligence). First things first, let us define an AI Scam for you. Quite simply, using AI as a technology to scam people. For those who wish to know more about the traditional scams, kindly refer to my last week article on the same which highlights the definition, forms of scams, techniques, and lastly tips on ways to avoid them. The objective of AI scam is the same i.e. deceiving the victims into extracting money, personal information and the likes. Spotting AI scams is not easy, and knowing about how they work is important for yourself and the loved ones, to stay safe and getting scammed free.
AI Scams come in different forms (and continue to be sophisticated and difficult to spot too). The ones that are on prowl today are AI voice (uses artificial intelligence to replicates human voices), and AI video (generate fake videos) scams. Ahmed, the fiction character I shared at the beginning of my article this week, was an example scamming done using AI voice, while myself and many others, are an example of victims that were almost to be scammed by an AI video scam (also known as Deepfake, a form of AI Scam that impersonates people). Knowing that such sophisticated scam does actually exist helps keep one be aware of the same, for the impact of the unknown is severe that includes financial loss, identity theft, compromise sensitive personal information such as passwords and bank account details, apart from the respected reputation and trust that have been built over the years.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) noted that AI-driven scams have contributed to a significant portion of the $10.3 billion lost to cybercrime in 2022 alone. According to a report I read online, AI-related fraud cases have increased by over 50 per cent in the past few years with losses totaling billions of dollars globally. Clearly an alarming stats that one should be wary about, for whatever happen in the west, can happen in Oman too – we are all connected onto the information super high-away after all.
How can one protect him/herself from AI Scams? There is no easy way as every advancement in AI technology has the potential of also advancing AI scams. Nevertheless, I would like to share a few approaches that I personally follow. As I had mentioned in my previous article, avoid providing personal and/or financial information over the phone unless you were the one that initiated, made the call and are certain of the call’s identity and legitimacy too. Also, if in doubt, hang up the phone and verify the identity of the caller through official channels and authorized bodies. With reference to the video, look for unnatural pauses or robotic-sounding speech (although this is becoming difficult to spot). Lastly, report the suspicious voice calls and videos received to relevant authorities in order to help prevent others from falling victim.
One cannot deny that Artificial Intelligence as a technology is transforming our world for the better and we have seen many tools that helps keep individual and organizations productive as a result. Nevertheless as we have seen in my article today, Artificial Intelligence also presents new opportunities for scammers. Staying informed and keeping oneself updated is a sure way to protect against the rising threat of AI scams. Until we catch up again next week, stay safe and be positive.