How AI Is Used To Scam You (and What You Can Do About It)

Alisa Stern, Shutterstock / Inside Creative House – In-House Art

There’s a lot of hype around AI, and just as much fear. But anxiety over pie-in-the-sky scenarios involving sentient robots and supercomputers obfuscates the real threats that already exist, like AI-assisted scams.

Scammers, hackers, and other malicious actors use AI in many ways, but the ultimate goal is usually the same as other online schemes—to get you to click on fake links or download malware that can steal your personal data, take over your accounts and devices, or spy on you. While the goals are the same as the phishing and malware scams we’ve seen for decades, AI tools can make the job easier by creating more enticing—or threatening—reasons to click those malicious links.

A growing threat is training an AI tool to replicate the likeness of friends or family members using voice recordings, then using those fake voice clips to dupe a victim into thinking their loved one needs them to send money or grant them access to important accounts…