Scammers have always been a part of the global economy, but the rise of technology and the internet has led to an explosion in the number and variety of scams. The most recent trend in scamming is the use of social media and online platforms to target individuals and businesses.
One popular scam is the "phishing" scam, in which scammers send emails or messages that appear to be from a legitimate source (such as a bank or government agency) in order to trick people into giving away personal information or money.
Believe it or not, the few paragraphs above are AI generated. Tools such as ChatGPT allow a user to conduct natural language conversations with software, and the software to respond in a way that on many occasions, pass off as a real human.
Consider 4 years ago, Google highlighted new technology for a digital assistant to make a phone call to a restaurant to make reservations, or to a hairdresser to make an appointment.
Click this link to see it on YouTube.
In the same year 2018 - comedian Jordan Peele produced a deepfake video of President Obama saying things he wouldn't say. Watch it here.
Consider that most scamming and phishing attempts currently received on email or text are poorly formatted, or have spelling mistakes, or bad grammar. In Singapore, the IMDA has gone on a campaign over the past few years educating the public on how callers with a +65 prefix are possibly scam calls. This may cause people to instinctively trust what appear to be legitimate local numbers. Well, the scammers have found a way to call from a non +65 number.
How else can scammers up their game? What if they automated the process using natural language tools and deep-faked voices (or more scarily, deep-faked video)? What if you received an urgent video call from your boss asking you to buy some gift cards? Or from a frantic child saying they have been kidnapped and that her captors are demanding a ransom?
No matter how technology evolves to counter scammers and phishers, the bad actors will always come up with something more sophisticated. Scammers rely on impulsive actions to get what they want. It is up to the individual to be the final line in the defense of their personal information and money.
Some of us are fortunate enough to have corporate training on good cybersecurity hygiene, but continual personal training and practice in critical thinking is the key to keeping safe. Always think of the veracity of the message before you respond.