Scams in the Age of AI and How to Avoid Them
KALW Public Radio’s “State of the Bay” digs into the reality of scams in the age of AI.
Tune in at the 14:50 mark for host Grace Won’s interview with AARP Fraud Watch Network’s Director of Victim Support Amy Nofziger and Operation Shamrock’s Founder Erin West.
Amy and Erin share how scammers and transnational organized crime are using AI to refine their tactics. It’s not about finding easy marks: Even the sharpest people are being conned, sometimes out of millions of dollars.
Erin explains “pig butchering” scams and schemes that capitalize on the popularity of cryptocurrency, combined with our desire to make more money for our families. This makes people more vulnerable to these investment suggestions than they might normally be.
“The idea of pig butchering is that it’s a long con, and it does not end until the scammer has taken every penny you have.”
The websites the scammers create look very real; they show financial returns, and they prey on the victim’s emotional response to success. People are putting their life savings into these fake investment platforms and losing everything.
The interview also talks about other scams, including toll scams, job scams, celebrity impersonation scams, grandparent and parent scams, and more.
Full episode: We reveal how AI scams work and how to avoid them