Over the past few years, I’ve noticed an increase in scam emails getting past Gmail’s spam filters. Being a writer, the emails I receive are mostly from so-called book clubs, full of empty praise for my writing and the offer to market my books for a (often expensive) fee.
Most of the time, these book clubs don’t really exist. Sometimes, book clubs exist, but the person emailing me is not connected to them. Similar scams are popping up in the inboxes of every writer I know.
Although I can’t prove this 100%. fake emails are generated by artificial intelligenceexperts at McAfee confirmed my suspicions that fraudsters are increasingly relying on AI for speed, scale and personalization.
“From deep audio and video simulation techniques to highly sophisticated phishing, hacking and email campaigns that leverage fear, urgency and trust, these AI-powered tactics make scams more believable and harder to detect than ever before,” said Abhishek Karnik, head of threat research at McAfee.
More mysterious AI scams may try to entice you to buy fake services, click on malicious links or download malicious files. This can lead to damaged equipment, fraud, loss of funds or even shoplifting, causing significant emotional and financial stress.
As these scams increase, it’s important to learn how to spot them so you don’t become the next victim.
How fraudsters use AI
AI content generators use machine learning and natural language processing to quickly create text, whether it’s for an article, social media post, advertisement or email. The software can easily create a personalized message by scraping specific content that will appeal specifically to you. The book marketing emails I receive often pull words from one of the blurbs in my books and rearrange them to make it seem like the scammer is a fan.
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The all-caps “PAUL” is one clue that this email may be an AI-generated scam.
Since it is so easy to create these emails in bulk with AI, the full scam comes later. Scammers wait to send attachments, links or prices for their fake services until you respond enough to appear invested.
A combination of personalization and highly suspicious delivery delays make these scam emails pass your spam filters.
According to cybersecurity incident response analyst, Taylor Peltzman, AI has not changed the goal of fraud, but it has made them more efficient and easier to execute.
“AI can rewrite messages continuously, use legitimate services like Google Drive or Microsoft 365, and build multi-step attacks rather than relying on a single email,” Peltzman said. “Organizations are likely to trust links from widely used platforms, making these attacks difficult to detect.”
Scams come in all shapes and sizes
AI lends itself to social engineering scams, which use human psychology — things like trust, urgency or fear — to trick you into providing personal or financial information. This is usually done by impersonating authority figures or trusted relatives, sending you fake products or tricking you into fake relationships.
When in doubt, always pause before taking action. Do not click on a link or disclose your sensitive information without confirming that the person on the other end is legitimate.
Fraudster scams
Fraudster scams are some of the most common ones. This is usually from someone posing as a distressed relative or official — such as a bank, law enforcement or government agency — who needs an urgent payment or your personal information. Fraudsters can also impersonate more niche authorities, such as established experts in your industry.
Impersonation scams are especially tricky in the age of AI because of its ability to replicate real people in ways they couldn’t in the past.
“One of the most impactful developments is the use of deepfake technology and voice synthesis, which can mimic real people’s faces, voices and even writing style and voice,” Peltzman said. “Middle fake voices are very difficult to find, as even imperfect voices can sound convincing in the right context.”
Online shopping scams
Scammers often create fake emails, social media listings or entire websites to trick you into buying products or services, which often don’t even exist. Online shopping scams try to lure you in with unbelievably large discounts and fake reviews of their products or services. Generative AI tools allow fraudsters to quickly create emails and websites for these purposes, making it easier than ever to carry out these scams.
Pig slaughter scams
Pig slaughter scams encourage people to spend more and more money on seemingly profitable programs like cryptocurrency. These scams usually generate small winnings at first so you “invest” more. When your payout reaches a certain threshold — one that modern fraudsters can choose by asking AI to predict your risk tolerance based on established patterns — the scam disappears with your money.
Be aware of hog-slaying scams, where the attacker begins by building trust with the target — either through friendship or romance.
Scams in love
Some scammers create fake people to create romantic relationships with people online. They will spend weeks or months talking to you and building trust. Once they’ve established this trust, they’ll tell you they’re in trouble and ask for financial help — then disappear into the ether with your hard-earned money. Generative AI makes this easier than ever by allowing these hackers to quickly create personalized messages, tailored to each person they create a fake relationship with.
Payment app scams
One of the most subtle ways scammers get your information is by sending fake invoices or money transfer requests, using urgent language to get you to send money before you notice any red flags. Payment app scams sometimes use fraudulent tactics, pretending to be a real company or payment processor.
Delivery scams
These days, it’s common for people to order multiple packages a week and forget what they ordered. Delivery scams take advantage of this by sending fake shipping alerts that say you have to pay money to receive your ordered package. If you’ve discussed your orders online, they can use generative AI to create shipping alerts that match the language of existing delivery companies.
Lottery scams
Lottery scams advertise that you have won a lottery or other prize and demand a processing fee or personal information before you can claim your prize. Like a payment system scam, lottery scams may try to make themselves look legitimate by masquerading as a real lottery or contest. Some may even go so far as to use AI to generate entire websites to create a sense of legitimacy.
Charity Scams
Scammers may pose as charities and send you texts or emails as part of a fundraising campaign. They may create fake charities for this purpose or pretend to be legitimate poor charities. AI search can make these scams even more subtle by helping fraudsters quickly find public posts about people donating to certain charities, revealing their email addresses and creating communications in the style of those charities.
AI has made cheaters more common than ever, but you can protect yourself
AI is making it easier for bad actors to create sophisticated scams, making it more important than ever to understand how to spot red flags.
You can protect yourself by learning how to identify link spam and keeping your own computer or the phone you are safe from threats. We also recommend shopping identity theft protection services if you have important financial assets to protect.
