Even if you've never personally received one of those scam calls or texts about an unexpected tech support issue, a fantastic crypto investment opportunity, or an unexpected romantic interest, chances are you know someone who has. Maybe even a customer?
But have you ever wondered where these calls come from, who is behind them and why they are so successful?
As an advisor, you not only have the challenge of protecting your clients, and possibly their families, from the rise of fraud, but also protecting yourself and your family. And in this case, a little knowledge is certainly not a dangerous thing.
Where In The World
Most calls for fraud and fraud come from run-down factories in India's slums, far from the attention of international law enforcement. It is believed that close to half of these fraudulent calls come from well-organized call centers in just one city, the distant city of Calcutta (formerly Calcutta) in the eastern Indian province of West Bengal and not far from the border with Bangladesh.
Some of these centers they employ hundreds of locals, many of them well-educated engineers and computer scientists, who are either unemployed or underemployed. There are thousands of these call centers and a single one can generate more than $100,000 every day for their operators. According to the FBI, American seniors alone are scammed by more than 10 billion dollars every year from India-based call centers alone, and the losses usually go far beyond financial.
India is not the only culprit. Cartels run these call centers in Mexico, equally ruthless gangs run them in Cambodia, and despite the war, it is believed that hundreds, if not thousands, of these centers still exist. operating in Ukraine. In a single 60-day operation in 2022, Interpol raided more than 1700 of these centers in more than 70 countries and yet it made little difference.
Every day these scammers send millions of calls that con millions of victims out of billions of dollars. If you haven't received one of these calls in person yet, you probably will soon, and the chances of falling for one of these scams are higher than ever. And it's all thanks to AI.
AI will replace the weakest (and most expensive) link.
The biggest weakness of these call centers are the people. Not only are people their biggest expense, but the comings and goings of callers can often give away their operations to law enforcement. And in many of these scam calls, the only thing that indicates it's a scam is a heavy Indian or Filipino accent. Do you really sound like Robin from Microsoft in Seattle, or Chuck from a wealth management firm in Wisconsin?
But thanks to rapid advances in AI, these call center operators will be able to eliminate those problems. Cut 90% of their costs by eliminating the need for people and dramatically increase the reliability and reliability of calls. This means even bigger profits at the expense of more victims and even more incentive for criminals to increase their efforts.
The sudden and rapid growth in conversational AI means that the voice on the other end of the line will sound very real and very local, able to build friendship and trust, look for background or mood clues from conversations , inject snippets from breaking news to feel real, inject things like tone, gender, a familiar accent, slang, emotion, even humor.
These massive and expensive call centers full of people and equipment can be reduced to a handful of computers locked in someone's bedroom. This type of profit opportunity will only attract more criminal organizations and lure and deceive more victims.
We are already seeing it happen. In the 12 months since ChatGPT launched, phishing emails have increased by almost 1300%, and their quality was the best we have ever seen. During the same time frame, AI-assisted identity fraud increased almost 1800%. And AI-driven news sites, often used to dispel misinformation, disinformation and propaganda, grew from 40 sites to nearly 600.
There is no easy solution, no silver bullet. We expect to see wave after wave of credible and credible scams that will be almost impossible to identify at first glance.
It doesn't mean we are powerless
In almost all of these scams, the giveaway, the telltale, the warning sign is context. No matter how convincing the voice on the other end of the line is, is it really normal for Microsoft to call you out of the blue about a virus it found on your computer?
Should you really be sending money to someone you just met on social media who seems to have taken a very quick romantic interest in you?
Since when do local courts or police departments want you to pay a fine using Zelle or a gift card?
If crypto investments are really so profitable, why does this complete stranger offer such a massive return on your investment with almost zero risk?
Does your client really want you to suddenly and secretly transfer $25 million over the weekend to very unknown accounts? (Yes, it happened and it worked.)
In a world where confidence is already in decline, it will have to take another hit. Do not believe anything at first sight. Check once, then twice, and depending on your client's tolerance for friction, check again.
Or better yet, just ignore the field. If true, the caller will find a more reliable way to find and interact with you.
The shield is up!
Neal O'Farrell widely regarded as one of the longest-serving security experts on the planet, 40 years and more. He has advised half a dozen governments, led the fight against identity theft for more than 20 years, and began his career by taking on the NSA in what became known as the Crypto Wars.