FBI tips to protect yourself from Fraud using Artificial Intelligence

Excerpt from Federal Bureau of Investigation Alert Number: I-120324-PSA “Criminals Use Generative Artificial Intelligence to Facilitate Financial Fraud”

Tips to protect yourself

• Create a secret word or phrase with your family to verify their identity.
• Look for subtle imperfections in images and videos, such as distorted hands or feet, unrealistic teeth or eyes, indistinct or irregular faces, unrealistic accessories such as glasses or jewelry, inaccurate shadows, watermarks, lag time, voice matching, and unrealistic movements.
• Listen closely to the tone and word choice to distinguish between a legitimate phone call from a loved one and an AI-generated vocal cloning.
• If possible, limit online content of your image or voice, make social media accounts private, and limit followers to people you know to minimize fraudsters’ capabilities to use generative AI software to create fraudulent identities for social engineering.
• Verify the identity of the person calling you by hanging up the phone, researching the contact of the bank or organization purporting to call you, and call the phone number directly.
• Never share sensitive information with people you have met only online or over the phone.
• Do not send money, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or other assets to people you do not know or have met only online or over the phone.

If you believe you have been a victim of a financial fraud scheme, please file a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. If possible, include the following:

1. Identifying information about the individuals including name, phone number, address, and email address.
2. Financial transaction information such as the date, type of payment, amount, account numbers involved, the name and address of the receiving financial institution, and receiving cryptocurrency addresses.
3. Describe your interaction with the individual, including how contact was initiated, such as the type of communication, purpose of the request for money, how you were told or instructed to make payment, what information you provided to the scammer, and any other details pertinent to your complaint.

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By Internet Crime Complaint Center

Published December 3, 2024

Read the full report here.

https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA241203