Phishing scams have increased in recent years, generating millions of dollars in annual losses. From January to June 2023 alone, there were 1.1 million reports of these practices, reporting a loss of 4.4 billion dollars. Now the risk is greater with Artificial Intelligence, so it is recommended to stay alert and informed, as well as report these activities to prevent being the next victim.
Phishing is a type of scam carried out by people who pretend to be a company, friend, family member or commercial representative, with the aim of deceiving, scamming or collecting personal data through email, calls, messages, social networks, websites, fictitious purchases, among other techniques of interest with the use of Artificial Intelligence.
The presence of new technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence, has become a valuable tool for scammers. It is used to clone the recorded voice of a phone call and make people believe that it is someone they know who needs help, and fake profiles are also created to connect with a greater number of potential victims, as reported by the Federal Trade Commission through a press conference organized by Ethnic Media Services.
Benjamin Davidson, an attorney in the Federal Trade Commission's Trade Practices Division, explained the ways in which phishing is being implemented.
«These types of fraud take different forms, imposters are those people who pretend to be someone else, such as a representative of a well-known company, they can pretend to be a family member or start a romantic relationship, the purpose is to gain trust to obtain information or money directly.", he explained.
The most common forms of Phishing is a form of online shopping that became popular during the pandemic, but it has also made people more vulnerable by sharing banking information to make an online purchase, where the data is stolen and used in future purchases; but there are also fictitious purchases, where you pay for a product or service that in the end does not arrive or is not fulfilled.
Another way to steal is through raffles or lotteries, where they ask for money to cover your participation and win attractive products or large amounts of money, but at the end of the process you do not acquire any benefit.
Investment frauds are also constant, they approach talking about the great benefits that you will get by investing a small amount of money. Currently, cryptocurrency investments or online accounts are the most famous.
Another way to lose money is in supposed business opportunities. They ask you to make a small investment to be part of a larger business or to start a business. However, you never see your money and you lose total contact with your supposed investor.
It is important to know how these imposters make contact with anyone: they mainly arrive through social media; from January to June 2023, 658 million dollars in money losses have been reported due to contact through social media and for contact through phone calls, losses reach 1,400 dollars on average.
Another way to commit fraud is through text messages. They make you believe they are representatives of a company to offer you a benefit or service, they send a link and then ask for payment or some information.
An example of this was the case of recruitment through messages, they made you believe that you would work for a person using social networks to generate income for which they provided their data or they asked you for an investment amount, in both cases it ends up being fraud.
What can be done to avoid becoming a victim of phishing?
We must take into account that some situations in which the impostor puts you are difficult to believe, it is not an easy way to earn money or obtain any benefit, so it is recommended to question any approach.
The scammer will give a sense of urgency because they are trying to get you to answer immediately, so you should not respond right away. It is key to do it slowly and carefully, not to rush into a situation like this. It allows you to take it carefully, investigate and inquire a little, as well as investigate the situation they are presenting to you and corroborate that it is true. If you take it calmly, you may possibly be able to avoid being part of the fraud.
It is also recommended to block text messages or calls that you have already detected as part of a scam.
Another way to protect yourself is through applications that alert you if you appear to be a fraud.
If you are a victim of phishing, you must make a report. It is extremely important to follow up and continue to inform the population and thus avoid other frauds. These can be reported via phone call, text message or on the website. https://reportfraud.ftc.gov.
To protect your computer it is recommended to purchase security software.
In the case of a mobile device, the recommendation is to configure the software to update automatically.
When using multiple accounts registered on devices, it is recommended to protect yourself by using multiple authentication.
The role of Artificial Intelligence -AI- in phishing
Artificial Intelligence phishing is through messages or calls that seek to gain trust to have access to your mobile device, to later clone the voice of the person and later use it to create a risky and urgent situation that will make the person nervous and fearful, in this way they will not think about it and will pay for the benefit of their loved one.
Another very common way is to enter into a long-distance relationship, maintain it for a while and then make the person involved believe that you need financial support.
This technology is also used to clone accounts, access computer systems or mobile devices; the ways and means are endless and anyone is at risk.
For her part, Rosario Méndez, from the Federal Trade Commission, explained how to use the website ftc.gov/scams, which is a guide to reporting scams in Spanish, staying informed to learn how to avoid them and offering the necessary support if you are a victim. She recommends acting quickly to recover your money.
On the page you can find information on how to contact the company involved. It is important to mention that this page provides information in more than 10 languages to make it a truly useful tool for anyone.
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