Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transitioned from science fiction to everyday reality. While AI offers many ways to make life easier, read on to understand how to protect yourself and your loved ones, plus find helpful tips for recognizing and responding to financial scams.
Generative AI is a new technology that simplifies everyday personal and business tasks. However, there is a dark side: scammers use generative AI to refine their financial crimes. They use AI tools to help them correct spelling and language that appear legitimate or to imitate companies and loved ones quite convincingly. AI tools are readily available, making scammers' work easier than ever, even across geographic borders.
Take measures to safeguard your banking and social media accounts, including passwords and multi-factor authentication. A strong password is at least 12 characters long and uses a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.
Enroll in real-time notifications and alerts at your financial institution for transactions above a specified limit and regularly monitor your accounts for suspicious activity.
Use a password for your financial account data that is significantly different from passwords you use for other sites. Change passwords periodically.
Restrict the information you post on social media and only share information with people you trust.
Fraudsters use publicly available information like names, addresses, birthdays and photos. Voice impersonations can be created using only a few seconds from videos or an outgoing voicemail message. Pictures from social media can be easily altered.
Make up a private word or phrase that you share with your trusted contacts that only you and they know. Avoid using something that can be easily guessed, such as a pet name.
If you receive a call from a family member or friend in trouble pressuring you to send money, ask for the code word to verify who you are talking to. Practicing using the code word is a good idea so you don’t forget it.
Refer to online resources from your financial institution, the Better Business Bureau, the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission and other organizations to learn how to recognize scams.
Be prepared to recognize fraudsters sending emails, making phone calls, sending text messages or using social media. Trust your instincts, take precautions and react wisely.
AI can make email phishing attempts look very real. Misspellings and poor grammar are giveaways, but AI is closing that gap.
Scammers may create a sense of urgency around fixing your security settings or changing or confirming account numbers.
Scammers may provide weblinks (aka URLs) that appear to be legitimate but are not. The imposter URL may have a subtle change (e.g., the letter “o” is changed to a zero, and the company domain may be changed from .com to .org).
Scammers can spoof phone numbers that appear to be legitimate. They may pose as your financial institution to discuss unusual activity or a company that wants you to fix your settings. They may also pose as law enforcement or a government agency.
Scammers may use synthetic images or voices – also known as deepfakes – purporting to be a loved one.
Scammers will generally pressure you to send money within a specific deadline.
Scammers may impersonate companies to collect overdue bills or start a personal conversation. Watch for messages such as:
Scammers may comment on your social media post, reply to a comment you made on someone else’s post or message you directly.
Scammers may:
If you believe you are a victim of a scam, reporting what you see and experience helps law enforcement take action and protect others from becoming victims.
Report scam text messages by forwarding to 7726
If you paid or sent money, contact your financial institution, credit card provider, money transmitter or other organizations involved in the transaction and file a police report.
This document was developed by the Cybersecurity & Payments AI Project Team of Nacha’s Payments Innovation Alliance. The Payments Innovation Alliance is a membership program that shapes the future of the payments industry and develops thought leadership relevant to financial service institutions. The Alliance established the Cybersecurity & Payments AI Project Team to help organizations understand and respond to evolving threats related to potential cyberattacks. Visit the Cybersecurity & Payments AI Project Team page to see more resources developed by the team.