Gone are the days when obscure princes hit you up for cash in politely, if awkwardly worded emails. Online scamdom has exploded into a worldwide, interconnected criminal enterprise -- stealing money on a scale of some countries' annual GDP -- where the methods and technologies used by hackers are remarkably sophisticated.
Globally, scams accounted for over $1 trillion in losses in 2023. By one estimate, online payment scams alone reached $38 billion in losses last year. If a legit tech company were generating that level of cash flow, VCs would be salivating.
Today's online threats involve a daunting array of exploits, including phishing, malware, identity theft and social engineering, and practically any connected device could be a target. Leaders in cybersecurity technology like Bitdefender have continually stepped up their efforts to protect individuals and companies from the ever-evolving dangers posed by cybercriminals.
Bitdefender's launch of Scam Copilot is the latest addition to the company's suite of digital solutions, and it represents a major advancement in cybersecurity. Powered by AI and designed to detect and fight fraud attempts, the Scam Copilot platform operates across a user's devices, including computers, tablets, and mobile phones.
Building a strong cybersecurity defense that includes tools like Scam Copilot is more important than ever, but it's critical that individuals don't lose sight of the role they play in their own protection, too. The right software package goes a long way, but not all the way, in keeping you and your devices safe online. Here's what the top digital solutions can do for you, using the capabilities of Bitdefender's Scam Copilot as a benchmark, and how you can complement them with responsible everyday behaviors.
1. Implement AI-Enabled Scam and Fraud Protections on All Your Devices
Practically every area of our digital lives has been infiltrated by the risk of cyber threats, from finding a job to finding a date. Bad actors target our most earnest, intimate, and vulnerable moments. It's important to utilize fraud monitoring on all your everyday devices precisely because all those micro touch points we have with the digital world could harbor a fraud attempt. Scam Copilot provides comprehensive protection across digital environments, including web browsing, email (Gmail and Outlook), texting, chat apps (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Discord), push notifications, and calendar invites. What's more, by leveraging AI-assisted automatic detection, Scam Copilot continuously learns and adapts to new scam tactics in real-time.
What you can do: Validate any unusual outreach from a friend, family member or contact through a trusted channel before you act on a message. Be wary of unsolicited communications, such as "recruiters" offering employment opportunities via text message. A little internet sleuthing, or a phone call to a trusted number, is well worth the effort to determine if a person contacting you is authentic.
2. Safeguard Yourself Against Remote Access Scams
Hackers have expanded from homemade viruses and other forms of malware to abusing legitimate software for nefarious purposes -- with remote access scams being a prime example. This exploit involves a bad actor, such as a tech support representative, getting the victim to grant remote system access through widely used tools like TeamViewer, AnyDesk, or UltraViewer. An offer to help becomes an invitation to do harm. Bitdefender's Scam Copilot is set up to intervene when remote access requests are unusual and suspicious, halting users before they allow unauthorized entry into their devices.
What you can do: Treat any and all instances where you are granting remote desktop access with escalated vigilance, even if the software that's being used is familiar to you, from a legitimate provider, or already installed on your system (for instance, by your employer).
3. Use Cybersecurity Tools That Both Learn and Teach
As cyber criminals embrace the capabilities of AI to fool victims with increasingly believable deepfakes and other forms of spoofing, individuals should turn to their cybersecurity system to serve as a source of both protection and information as it relates to emerging threats. Scam Copilot performs this dual role through its AI Chatbot, Geo-Specific Scam Wave Alerts and Scam Awareness resources. For instance, users can consult the Scam Copilot Chabot with natural language inquiries, obtaining trustworthy evaluations of potential scams. And with geo-specific alerts, Spam Copilot is able to recognize patterns and notify users when their area is experiencing concentrated attacks of a certain type.
What you can do: Cyber criminals prey on victims' lack of familiarity with their scams, which means that awareness of their maneuvers and tactics is a major threat-neutralizer. Spreading your own cybersecurity knowledge to friends and family -- especially vulnerable generations like the seniors and kids -- is a powerful way to fight back. It may not slow down the prevalence of attacks, but it can reduce how often those attacks are successful.
The Scam Copilot technology is available through many of Bitdefender's cybersecurity packages, including Bitdefender Ultimate Security, Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus (U.S. only), Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security (U.S. only), and Bitdefender Premium Security. Learn more.
