Untangle deceit from reality in an AI world

Winnipeg

What exactly is it that I’m looking at? This is a question we’re asking ourselves more consistently as AI blurs our sense of reality with deception. AI images are sometimes easy to spot. Other times, it can fool even the keenest observer. So if we no longer know what’s real or not, how do we keep ourselves, and our money, grounded in the real world?

The best safeguard we have is time. Take yours. Don’t spring quickly into action regardless of any urgency pressed upon you. Scammers use danger and emergency to their benefit, getting their victims to throw caution and sometimes, common sense, to the wind. For example, scammers have been successful in using AI to create real-looking videos or phone recordings that mimic a real person. They then send those to that person’s loved one, pretending they are in distress and require money to get themselves out of the situation. Desperate to help their friend or family member, the victim sends the money quickly only for it to go directly into the scammer’s pocket.

Scammers have also used AI to round up personal details about people then use that to create extremely targeted phishing messages. You may think it’s actually your bank calling or emailing because they’re able to rattle off an assortment of facts about you. Unless they have information only your bank would know, hang up, find your bank’s real contact information or call through your app to reach them back.

Some of the usual protections against scam prevention have been reduced due to AI. For example, fraudsters are able to create extremely realistic IDs or paperwork to pretend to be someone you’re not. The old advice was to check credentials of any service provider, but now, it’s harder to know if their paperwork is real or fake. That’s why it’s important to find your service providers yourself, check reviews on independent websites like bbb.org, or follow recommendations from family and friends who’ve worked directly with them before. Refrain from opening links in emails or text messages, and find organizations’ websites yourself. Some scammers are able to imitate trusted providers and put fake links into their communication so that people who think they’re visiting a legitimate website are actually inputting their credit card number into a sophisticated duplicate.

Remember that reviews online can be fake too. Scammers can set up a network of lies, through search engine review platforms, advertisements and social media pages that fool you into thinking their product is legitimate but it is not. There have even been reports of users visiting the exact same website that a friend used to successfully order an item, only for it now to ask the user for their bank account information and social insurance number. Do not give out this information and search for your desired item elsewhere.

Remember, in this world of deception, there is still a lot of truth. Shopping trusted local business can be one of your biggest weapons in the fight against scammers. Getting into your community also keeps you and your money a bit more grounded.