ST. PAUL – The development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the rise of its widespread use comes with new set of challenges, including issues with cyber-crime and scams.
In southern Alberta, the Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) have seen an increase to what it calls “grandparent scams” or emergency scams, in which fraudsters use AI to mimic the voice of their target’s family member – claiming to be in trouble, the scammer says they require money from the victim.
Often, the scammer poses as the grandchild of the target, or they may pretend to be a police officer or a lawyer acting on behalf of the grandchild, according to information from the LPS.
Dennis Silliker, detachment commander at St. Paul RCMP, says there are also many other types of scams where fraudsters use AI.
While Silliker did not indicate if there have been any cases yet of AI scams or frauds reported at the St. Paul detachment, he asks the public to be mindful.
“I have not seen any reported [scams], which doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Many of these go unreported.” He added, “Unfortunately, these types of frauds are all too common.”
Another way fraudsters can use AI is by analyzing data from online sources like social media for phishing scams, the automation of fake online accounts, data analysis, and deepfake technology.
As of June 30, 2024, there have been about 16,000 victims of fraud during the first half of the year, and Canadians lost about $284 million so far, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC). In 2023, Canadians lost $569 million to fraud.
Silliker said that public awareness is the first line of defense against fraudsters, “who, because of present technology, can operate from anywhere in the world.”
“Often when the frauds are reported to the police, the damage is already done. So, I encourage our community to educate themselves and take steps to protect their personal and financial information to prevent falling victim to these crimes,” he said. Silliker directs the public to the CAFC website for tips on how to protect themselves.
Some tips
According to CAFC, due to AI, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to detect what is real and what has been generated by AI.
In cases of grandparent scams, if you receive a call from some who is apparently a family member like your grandchild, CAFC recommends hanging up and verifying the caller identity and their story.
One way to do so is to reach out to other family members to confirm the situation.
Other scammers also pretend to be from organizations like businesses, charities, collection agencies, or credit card companies.
CAFC recommends doing research and verifying the identity of the organization you are dealing with.
Scammers usually have different contact information from the organization they are portraying, so look online for the organization’s actual contact information and call them yourself to confirm.
Doing so also protects yourself from “spoofing,” which fraudsters use to appear legitimate through various means like caller ID spoofing, email spoofing, and website spoofing.
With caller ID spoofing, for example, fraudsters can manipulate the phone number appearing on your call display to make it seem like it is legitimate.
Hanging up, finding the actual contact information of the organization you’re dealing with, and calling them directly allows you to confirm the legitimacy of a call or a situation.
The idea is to never assume that the phone number appearing on your call display is accurate.
Silliker says that if anyone suspects they have been a victim of cyber-crime or fraud, to report it to the RCMP, or report to CAFC’s online reporting system. The public can also call CAFC to report at: 1-888-495-8501.
“If not a victim, report it to the CAFC anyway,” he says.