AI scams cost victims $442 billion globally as deepfakes and voice cloning make fraud harder to detect

These AI Scams All Have Red Flags. Here's How to Spot Them

In the past couple of years, I've noticed an uptick in scam emails that get past Gmail's spam filters. Since I'm an author, the emails I get are usually from so-called book clubs, filled with empty praise for my writing and an offer to market my books for a (typically exorbitant) fee. Most of the time, these book clubs don't actually exist. Sometimes, the book clubs do exist, but the person emailing me isn't connected to them. The same scams are proliferating in the inboxes of every author I know. While I can't 100% prove these fraudulent emails are generated by artificial intelligence, experts at McAfee confirmed my suspicions that scammers are increasingly relying on AI for speed, scale and personalization. "From deepfake audio and video impersonation scams to highly polished phishing, smishing and email campaigns that exploit fear, urgency and trust, these AI‑powered tactics are making scams more convincing and harder to spot than ever," said Abhishek Karnik, head of threat research at McAfee. More sophisticated AI scams could try to persuade you to buy fake services, click malicious links or download harmful files. This can lead to damaged devices, extortion, lost funds or even wholesale identity theft, causing massive emotional and financial stress. As these scams increase, it's important that we learn how to identify them so you won't become the next victim. How scammers are using AI AI content generators use machine learning and natural language processing to create text instantly, whether for an article, social media post, advertisement or email. The software can create a personalized message easily by scraping specific content that could appeal to you directly. The book marketing emails I receive often pull words from one of my book blurbs and reorganize them to make it seem like the scammer is a fan. Since it's so easy to mass-create these emails with AI, the full scam comes later. Scammers wait to send attachments, links or prices for their fake services until you've responded enough to seem invested. The combination of personalization and delayed delivery of the more suspicious elements makes these scam emails likely to bypass your spam filters. According to cybersecurity incident response analyst Taylor Peltzman, AI hasn't changed the goal of scams, but it has made them more efficient and easier to execute. "AI can continuously rewrite messages, use legitimate services such as Google Drive or Microsoft 365, and construct multi-step attacks rather than relying on a single email," Peltzman told me. "Organizations are more likely to trust links from widely used platforms, which makes these attacks harder to detect." Scams come in all shapes and sizes AI lends itself to social engineering scams, which use human psychology -- things like trust, urgency or fear -- to manipulate you into giving away personal or financial information. This is most often done by impersonating authority figures or trusted relatives, pitching you fake products or tricking you into false relationships. If you have any doubt, always pause before taking action. Don't click on a link or divulge your sensitive information without confirming that the person on the other end is legit. Imposter scams Imposter scams are some of the most common to look out for. These typically come from someone pretending to be a distressed relative or an authority -- such as banks, law enforcement or government agencies -- in urgent need of either a payment or your personal information. Scammers can also impersonate more niche authorities, such as established professionals in your industry. Impersonation scams are particularly insidious in the age of AI because of their ability to replicate actual humans in ways they couldn't in the past. "One of the most concerning developments is the use of deepfake technology and voice cloning, which can mimic real people's faces, voices and even writing style and tone," Peltzman told me. "Fake voices are among the hardest to detect, as even imperfect voice clones can sound convincing in the right context." Online shopping scams Scammers will often create fake emails, ad listings on social media or entire websites to trick you into buying products or services, which often don't even exist. Online shopping scams attempt to reel you in with unbelievably large discounts and falsified reviews of their products or services. Generative AI tools allow scammers to quickly create emails and websites for these purposes, making it easier than ever to craft these scams. Pig butchering scams Pig butchering scams encourage people to spend increasing amounts of money on seemingly lucrative schemes such as cryptocurrency. These scams often manufacture small wins at the beginning to get you to "invest" more. When your payment reaches a certain threshold -- one that modern scammers can select by asking AI to predict your risk tolerance based on established patterns -- the scammer disappears with your money. Romance scams Some scammers create fake personas to build romantic relationships with people online. They'll spend weeks or even months communicating with you and building trust. Once they've established this trust, they'll tell you they're in trouble and ask for financial help -- then vanish into the ether with your hard-earned cash. Generative AI makes this easier than ever by allowing these scammers to quickly create personalized, optimized messages for each person they're building a false relationship with. Payment app scams One of the most insidious ways scammers get your information is by sending fake invoices or money transfer requests, using urgent language to get you to send money before you can notice any red flags. Payment app scams sometimes use imposter scam tactics as well, pretending to be a real company or payment processor. Delivery scams These days, it's common for folks to order multiple packages in a week and even forget some of what they've ordered. Delivery scams take advantage of this by sending falsified shipping alerts that claim you must pay a fee in order to receive a package you've ordered. If you've discussed your orders online, they can even use generative AI to create shipping alerts that match the language of existing delivery companies. Lottery scams Lottery scams declare you've won a lottery or other prize and demand either a processing fee or personal information before you can get your prize. Like payment app scams, lottery scams may attempt to make themselves look more legitimate by impersonating a real lottery or contest. Some may even go as far as using AI to generate entire websites to create a sense of legitimacy. Charity scams Scammers may pretend to be charities sending you texts or emails as part of a supposed fundraising campaign. They may create false charities for this purpose or pretend to be legitimate charities. AI search can make these scams even more insidious by helping scammers quickly find public posts about people donating to specific charities, uncovering their email addresses and creating communications in the style of those charities. AI has made scammers more prolific than ever, but you can protect yourself AI makes it much easier for bad actors to create highly sophisticated scams, making it more important than ever to understand how to identify red flags. You can protect yourself by learning how to identify a spam link and keeping your computer or phone safe from threats. We also recommend purchasing identity theft protection services if you have significant financial assets to protect.

Surge in scams as criminals use AI to target people

Cases of fraud in the UK have surged with criminals using AI to manipulate people and even marrying victims of romance scams to steal more money. More than four million cases in which money was lost were reported last year - the equivalent of nearly eight on average every minute, according to new figures. The total has increased by more than one million in two years, with almost £1.3bn stolen by scammers in 2025, according to an annual report by UK Finance. The enormous scale of the problem could only be tackled if tech companies stepped up monitoring and security of their platforms, the banking trade body said. Banks said fraud posed "a national security threat" given the impact on victims and the huge sums stolen by organised criminals. The report, compiled from banking data and the most comprehensive assessment of fraud losses in the UK, reveals: * A total of 4.1 million cases of fraud in which money was stolen last year - up 11% on a year earlier, and a 31% rise on 2023 * Losses to investment scams soared by 40% in a year, to a new record high * Purchase scams, in which criminals use stolen card details to buy something online, were up to new record levels Fraudsters also use fake profiles on social media and dating sites to meet, groom and ultimately steal from victims who believe they are in a loving relationship. UK Finance said examples even included a fraudster marrying a victim to continue stealing money. "The impact goes beyond financial loss; it can cause huge emotional harm, leaving victims burdened by guilt and shame, which is why we must tackle the problem at its source to protect consumers," said Paul Davis, head of economic crime at Barclays. Experts believe the majority of scams are unreported, so do not even register in the statistics. Scammers are so embedded that the first four men matched with Julie Osgood when she tried out a dating site were all potential fraudsters, the 60-year-old recently told the BBC. She spotted the problem before being tricked, but many thousands of others were not so lucky. Kirsty Guest, a florist from North Yorkshire, was scammed out of £80,000 after meeting a man on a dating app, who called himself Patrick. The relationship developed over months, but was based on a lie, because "Patrick" was a scammer using photos of another, completely innocent, man. After claiming he had been in an accident on a work trip, he tricked Kirsty into sending thousands of pounds which was then stolen. "[Fraudsters] are professional and they are making massive volumes of money," she told the BBC in May. "They're intelligent in what they're doing." Banks say that criminals are engaging in more sophisticated fraud at greater volume with the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Criminals have used AI to mimic the voices of celebrities, and even those of the victims' family and friends, which has enabled them to carry out the crime at a greater scale. As a result, people were more susceptible to being scammed - something that often happened at a vulnerable moment, even if the victim did not consider themselves vulnerable to being tricked. "One click and you can lose your life savings," said Ruth Ray, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance. "The financial sector invests huge amounts in protecting customers, but we cannot be the only line of defence." She said "stronger, enforceable responsibilities" needed to be placed on tech platforms like social media channels and online marketplaces. This could include stronger rules over removing fraudulent advertising, or verification of sellers and secure payment systems. In so-called authorised push payment (APP) fraud, most victims now have a legal right to their losses being refunded by banks, because they are tricked into transferring money. But losses were up by 19% last year, and 12% of the stolen money was not reimbursed. Criminals have been adapting their tactics, with experts predicting a surge in scams related to the men's football World Cup in the coming days and weeks. Data shows a few types of scams fell away last year, such as an 11% drop in impersonation fraud, where criminals pose as a bank, the police or an organisation to convince victims to transfer money to a "safe account".

The global scam economy hit $442 billion in 2025, and AI is making it worse

Interpol says fraud cost victims $442B in 2025. AI deepfakes and fraud-as-a-service kits are industrialising scams worldwide. Global financial fraud cost victims an estimated $442 billion in 2025, roughly equivalent to the economic output of Denmark, according to Interpol's 2026 Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment. The figure, corroborated by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance's own survey data, reflects what Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza described as "the industrialisation of fraud," driven by artificial intelligence, cheap digital tools, and cross-border criminal collaboration. The assessment, published in March, rated the overall global risk from financial fraud as "high" and projected that losses would escalate significantly over the next three to five years. AI-enhanced fraud is already 4.5 times more profitable than traditional methods, according to Interpol's analysis. Agentic AI systems can now autonomously plan and execute complete fraud campaigns, from reconnaissance to ransom demands, at a cost that would have been inconceivable five years ago. The tools are disturbingly accessible. Deepfake fraud has surged as generative AI makes voice-cloning, face-swapping, and instant translation available for as little as $50 per month through dark web "fraud-as-a-service" marketplaces. These platforms resemble legitimate SaaS businesses, offering tiered pricing, customer support, and plug-and-play fraud kits that let a convincing forged driver's licence scan be produced and delivered within hours. The human cost is concentrated in Southeast Asia, where the United Nations estimates that at least 300,000 people are currently working in scam operations, many of them trafficked. A February 2026 UN report documented torture, sexual abuse, forced abortions, and food deprivation across compounds in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, describing a "litany of abuse" affecting people from at least 66 countries who were lured by fake job advertisements. These operations are structured like corporations. As researchers Mark Bo, Ivan Franceschini, and Ling Li document in their 2025 book "Scam," the fortified compounds, typically run by organised crime groups in partnership with local entrepreneurs, contain scam companies, canteens, clinics, and brothels. Workers manage multiple phones simultaneously from early morning until midnight, and those who miss performance targets face beatings. The price of buying one's freedom is typically upwards of $50,000. Law enforcement cooperation has intensified. At the end of April 2026, a joint operation between the FBI, China's Ministry of Public Security, and Dubai police resulted in raids on nine fraud centres in the UAE and the arrest of 276 people, with more than $701 million in cryptocurrency frozen. The operation, which also involved charges filed in San Diego, targeted pig-butchering schemes, a form of romance-baited cryptocurrency fraud in which scammers build trust before directing victims to fake investment platforms. But industrial-scale compounds are only part of the picture. A new book by journalist Carlos Barragan, "The Yahoo Boys: Love, Deception, and the Real Lives of Nigeria's Romance Scammers," published on 9 June by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, documents how individual scammers in Lagos operate with nothing more than a smartphone and an internet connection. Named after the email accounts used by early digital scammers, Nigeria's Yahoo Boys have no formal organisation, no compounds, and no barriers to entry. Barragan spent years embedded with four scammers in a poor Lagos suburb, documenting how they impersonate Western women to seduce targets overseas. The economic logic is stark. A legitimate job in Lagos might pay 25,000 naira ($18) per month, while a 50-kilogram bag of rice costs 30,000 naira, a price that has more than doubled since Barragan began his reporting. Among the dozens of scammers he informally polled, most estimated that between 60 and 80% of young men in Lagos are involved in some form of online fraud. That estimate, while impossible to verify independently, is broadly consistent with public statements from Nigerian authorities. The director of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arrived at a similar figure in 2023. Nigeria's youth unemployment crisis, which varies dramatically depending on measurement methodology, from the ILO's 6.5% to domestic reports citing figures above 50%, provides the structural backdrop. The scam economy's relationship to technology is paradoxical. While AI and deepfake tools are accelerating the industrialisation of fraud at the top end, the Yahoo Boys that Barragan profiles rely primarily on human ingenuity rather than sophisticated technology. Their tool is social engineering, the ability to exploit loneliness and trust, executed through text messages and social media rather than AI-generated video. The damage extends beyond the victims who lose money. In Lagos, Barragan describes an economy distorted by illicit cash: prices rise, social trust frays, and apprenticeships are abandoned as young men trade hard labour for the prospect of quick returns. In Southeast Asian compound towns like Sihanoukville, selling people into forced labour has become a common method of settling debts. The scam economy corrodes the societies it enriches. The technology response is scrambling to keep pace. Biometric verification systems, forensic deepfake detection platforms, and AI-powered fraud screening tools are all attracting investment, but the fundamental asymmetry remains: creating a convincing scam is cheaper and easier than detecting one. Interpol's assessment warns that without coordinated international action, the fraud economy will continue to grow as AI capabilities advance and the barriers to entry fall further.

AI deepfakes are now convincing enough to trick people easily

* Nearly two-thirds of victims believe AI tools enabled their fraud experience * One in ten victims handed over money within just five minutes * Scammers moved across multiple platforms in 63% of incidents Messaging scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated as criminals use AI to imitate trusted people, familiar brands, and everyday conversations. New research from Kaspersky suggests these schemes are succeeding with alarming speed, often convincing victims to hand over money within minutes. The findings indicate that digital experience alone may no longer provide reliable protection against modern fraud attempts. AI-powered scams are becoming faster and more convincing The study found that nearly two-thirds of scam victims globally, or 64.5%, believed AI tools played a role in the fraud attempts directed at them. In the United Kingdom, 54% of respondents suspected criminals used deepfakes or synthetic voices to impersonate relatives, friends, or legitimate organizations, allowing scammers to create convincing scenarios that closely resemble genuine interactions and trusted relationships. According to the research, more than half of UK victims completed payments or shared sensitive information within 30 minutes of initial contact. More than 1 in 10 victims, representing 12.2%, did so within 5 minutes, demonstrating how rapidly these operations unfold. Researchers also found nearly two-thirds (63%) of incidents moved across multiple communication platforms, helping fraudsters maintain credibility while avoiding suspicion. The most common scams involved investment opportunities, affecting 40% of respondents, followed by fake delivery alert at 38% and brand impersonation schemes at 35%. Dr. Elisabeth Carter, forensic linguist and criminologist at Kingston University London, said fraudsters create situations that appear entirely reasonable at the time. "Fraudsters use recognised contexts, familiar social settings and embedded linguistic norms to make victims feel their decision-making is rational and reasonable in the moment," Carter explained. "What is actually happening is that they construct false realities in which those decisions end up causing financial and psychological harm." Financial losses continue to grow as reporting remains low The financial consequences extend beyond isolated incidents, particularly during a period when many households already face economic pressures. Kaspersky found that victims in the UK lose an average of £458.45 per scam, while 9.1% reported losses exceeding £1,000, with more than a quarter (28%) saying they experienced three or more scam attempts within six months. Researchers noted that millennials were especially vulnerable to investment-related fraud, with 40% reporting exposure to financial opportunity schemes. The study also found over half (52%) of all scams occurred during the previous five months, suggesting the problem continues to accelerate rather than stabilize. Marc Rivero, Lead Security Researcher at Kaspersky's Global Research and Analysis Team, warned that criminal groups are operating at an unprecedented scale. "AI is accelerating the trend, helping scammers convincingly imitate brands, familiar voices, and personal relationships," said Marc Rivero, Lead Security Researcher at Kaspersky's Global Research and Analysis Team. "Simply being aware is no longer sufficient protection. People need to recognise risks earlier, before being pressured into hasty decisions." Security specialists recommend combining caution with technical safeguards, including antivirus software capable of detecting malicious links in real time. They also encourage stronger credential protection through a password manager and broader awareness of evolving scam tactics. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.