Artificial intelligence platforms are making criminals' lives easier and those of their targets worse with Internet security company Malwarebytes warning of 'havoc' arising out of increasingly 'believable' ruses cooked up to intimidate and con people out of their money. — Photo: Nicolas Armer/dpa/dpa-tmn
BERLIN: Artificial intelligence (AI) platforms are making criminals' lives easier and those of their targets worse with Internet security company Malwarebytes warning of "havoc" arising out of increasingly "believable" ruses cooked up to intimidate and con people out of their money.
"As AI makes fake voices and videos sound and look real, high-pressure plays like sextortion, deepfakes, and virtual kidnapping feel more believable than ever before, tricking even the most digitally savvy users," the anti-virus software company warned.
"AI is increasingly good at making fake feel real, giving criminals even more of an advantage when manipulating and extorting victims," Malwarebytes said, explaining how such scams have been made even more potent by technological advances that target people with a "deep digital footprint."
"Gen Z and Millennials are most at risk, accounting for two in three victims of extortion scams," Malwarebytes says, adding that the latest scams “prey on what’s personal” by going after mostly young male targets' "privacy, reputations, and peace of mind."
"Victims and targets of extortion scams in our survey report experiences ranging from scammers threatening to expose nude photos and videos to claims that a family member was in an accident," the Malwarebytes researchers say, pointing out that around seven in 10 victims are either Generation Z or Millennials and more than 60% are men.
"Many victims and targets simply don’t worry about mobile scams at all, resulting in a lack of protective measures," says Malwarebytes, calling for better "adoption of security basics" such as software, strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, timely system updates and "permission hygiene" - meaning being careful about what access applications have to the inner workings of a phone or other device. – dpa
