As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful, so do the fraudsters who use it. The holidays are unfortunately a ripe time for scammers as we tend to increase our time online and rush more than usual this time of year. While most of us have heard of phishing e-mails, today’s fraudsters go further than hoping you’ll click on a corrupt link. They can create convincing fake websites, clone voices, spoof phone numbers, and even impersonate trusted professionals or law enforcement. Here are some of the newer types of fraud to look out for:
Imposter Fraud.
A very common fraud in the age of AI involves criminals pretending to be someone you trust like your bank, a government agency (IRS, Social Security, FTC), law enforcement, a well-known vendor like Amazon, Microsoft, or Apple, or a family member or friend. The “imposter scammers” create urgency and ask for money or personal information.
AI Voice Cloning and Deepfakes.
AI allows criminals to clone a loved one’s voice, impersonate a financial professional, and create realistic videos in addition to generating much more convincing emails and text messages than the days of typo-filled communications that became easy to spot.
An extreme example is a woman who received a phone call demanding ransom for her kidnapped daughter and heard her daughter’s terrified voice begging her to pay it on the call. It was voice cloning. She called her daughter’s phone to discover she was safely at work.
AI-generated voices can also be used to impersonate trusted professionals. Recent real estate scams have used these techniques to redirect closing funds.
Romance/Friendship Scams.
Scammers establish emotional relationships online through social media, a dating app, a text message, or even a “wrong number” text. The establishment phase occurs over a period of weeks or even months, but the scammer always finds a reason not to meet in person. Then they have a sudden financial emergency or an investment opportunity they want to allow you to “get in on.”
Unlike traditional phishing scams that happen in minutes, these scams exploit trust, loneliness, and confidence over an extended period. Victims often lose not only money but also relationships they believed were genuine.
Job and Employment Scams.
The younger members of our families are also being targeted. Fake remote job offers that arrive by text and promise thousands in earnings in exchange for a modest upfront fee are on the rise, particularly targeting young adults.
The holidays are a time to check in with family about how to recognize and try to mitigate these and other types of fraud. Here are some practical tips to share at the Thanksgiving table:
1. Recognize what a legitimate communication will NOT do:
- Pressure you to act immediately by claiming you need to help, or you'll lose money, be arrested, have an account closed, or miss an opportunity if you don't respond within minutes.
- Ask for passwords, PINs, authentication codes, or MFA verification codes by email, text, or phone.
- Request that you transfer money to a new account based solely on an email, text, or voicemail.
- Ask you to pay with gift cards, gold bars, cryptocurrency, wire transfers, or payment apps to resolve a problem or avoid a penalty.
- Tell you not to verify the request with someone else.
- Require confidentiality about a financial transaction.
2. Create a safe word with your family while you are all gathered in person for the holidays.
This is a word you all know and will use when needing to signal your legitimacy to each other. In the example above, the woman could have asked her “daughter” for the safe word and the fake kidnappers would have been unable to provide it. This is the same process we used to use with home alarm companies. They needed your code word before they knew it was truly a false alarm.
3. In sum, whenever you receive an email, text, or phone call, check for red flags listed above and even if they don’t exist, trust your gut.
If you get any feeling that something is off, do not proceed. A legitimate friend, professional service provider or official will appreciate your efforts to stay safe and will be willing to wait while you verify.