by Brendan Robertson and Evan Niewoehner —
The emergence of Artificial intelligence has rapidly changed the way people communicate, work, and consume information. While it has its benefits, AI has also begun transforming the world of fraud. From voice-cloning technology used in phone calls to hyper-realistic phishing messages, scammers are now using AI to make their scams more convincing than ever before. As these technologies become cheaper and more accessible, the scams behind them are becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect.
Fraud tied to everyday online AI or telephone scams is rising quickly, with the Federal Trade Commission reporting $470 million in losses from text-based scams in 2024 alone. At the same time, AI-driven job scams are surging as well, with losses climbing into the hundreds of millions, according to the FTC. These scammers typically target those with little technological experience, like the elderly, making the scams even more effective. Since AI significantly improves the realism of messages, voices, and online identities, it’s become increasingly difficult for those who are more technologically unadvanced to keep up and tell the difference.
As technology evolves, so must our awareness of it, because in a world shaped by AI, seeing and hearing are no longer really believing.
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