AI scammers outperform humans when it comes to building trust
The notion that scammers can use AI to sharpen their deceptions, polish their language, and lubricate their banter with victims is now a reality for anyone fighting the fraud operations that steal tens of billions of dollars a year worldwide. But can AI fully replace a human scammer, autonomously building the web of deception leading up to the fake investment that defrauds the mark? One study's experiment suggests that it can—and may even be able to carry out the majority of that long con more e
Get smart on it
Researchers tested whether AI chatbots could perform the trust-building phase of "pig butchering" scams, which are text-based romance frauds that eventually shift to fake cryptocurrency investments. In their experiment, an AI chatbot was more effective than human scammers at building exploitable trust with test subjects, with nearly half agreeing to download an app when asked by the AI compared to fewer than one in five for humans. The researchers suggest AI could eventually carry out most of the scamming process independently, with a human scammer only taking over at the final stage to direct victims to fake investment platforms, thereby bypassing safeguards built into language models. This matters because pig butchering scams steal tens of billions of dollars annually worldwide, and the ability to automate the longest phase could make these fraud operations significantly more efficient and scalable.
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