Recently, my grandma got a phone call. I had been in a car accident and needed money to get home. One small problem: it wasn't me.
She almost gave the scammer money, until my aunt stopped her. My aunt contacted me to see if everything was all right, which I assured her it was.
Scammers nearly took her money using nothing more than a telephone. What happens when they discover AI?
AI Takes Fraud to a New Level
Some criminals already have. From a CNBC report:
Since the fourth quarter of 2022, there's been a 1,265% increase in malicious phishing emails, and a 967% rise in credential phishing in particular, according to a new report by cybersecurity firm SlashNext.
"Gone are the days of the 'Prince of Nigeria' emails that presented broken, nearly unreadable English to try to convince would-be victims to send their life savings," [security analyst Chris] Steffen said. "Instead, the emails are extremely convincing and legitimate sounding, often mimicking the styles of those that the bad guys are impersonating, or in the same vein as official correspondence from trusted sources," such as government agencies and financial services providers.
AI lets scammers generate content in any language that feels natural and is tailored to the recipient. It can crawl the internet and mention details about you to build rapport.
How AI Could've Gotten Grandma's Money
Let's go back to that fraudulent phone call. What if the voice on the other end of that phone sounded exactly like me?
With AI, that's easy to do. A couple hours of a person speaking is all you need to make an AI voice that can say anything.
At that point, even my aunt could've been fooled. Shoot, anyone could be!
I expect to see scams like this targeting the elderly very soon, if they're not operating already. The best approach is to do what my aunt did — independently verify the facts.
Stopping AI Scams
The best way to stop AI scams is to take a page from the financial industry and adopt Know Your Customer (KYC).
AI models are powerful. Prolific users of them should have to provide identifying info like driver's licenses.
You're going to think twice about scamming people if they have your photo ID on file.
Putting a price on mass e-mails would also help stem the tide of fraud. Why should anyone be able to send a billion e-mails for free?
Charge the sender even a penny each and they've got a bill for $10 million. That message better be worth it.
Not only that, but you've got their payment info. If the messages turn out to be malicious, you can easily track the sender down and arrest them.
Wrap-Up
AI is a powerful tool that can do enormous good in the world. But all powerful new technologies have a dark side.
We should adopt KYC standards for major users for AI models. This will help us ferret out scams and make sure AI is used for good.
What do you think the next AI scam will be? Leave a comment and let us know!
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