‘THEY EXPLOIT SOMEONE’S CONDITION AND EMOTIONS’ Fraudsters join forces with artificial intelligence, becoming even more ruthless
An increasing number of fraudsters are turning artificial intelligence into an accomplice in criminal activity. We have come across a type of scam in which artificial intelligence is used to create voice messages of supposed victims – that is, family members or close friends.
In this way, fraudsters try to extort money by playing on the panic and concern of the person receiving the message. For example, they play a recorded voice – allegedly of an injured daughter – to pensioners, demanding an urgent, huge sum of money so that the child can be operated on.
Speaking to Kurir Television about this were Dobrivoje Radovanović, criminologist and psychologist, Dejan Radenković, former MUP official, and Biljana Kordić, a pensioner. Also joining the programme was Ljubomir Kljajić, patent and trademark attorney and expert on AI regulation.
“I haven’t personally come across this. I’ve heard various stories. Having worked for years with the elderly population, it seems to me that the biggest problem is loneliness, and every opportunity for communication is important to older people. We don’t have education within the system. Elderly people in retirement interest no one except as an electorate. They don’t have adequate technological education,” said Kordić.
Kordić added that critical thinking has also been neglected in the 21st century, because the media increasingly popularise content that undermines our relationship with quality material.
“Artificial intelligence will only continue to bring more new things into crime. Scams, and even large-scale fraud, use technology to deceive. The battle for votes and political parties use deception to win voters. When it’s all over, you can’t find either the people who made the promises or what they promised. Fraud is an integral part of life; it just escalates during social crises to the point where it becomes present every day,” said Radovanović.
Kljajić said that artificial intelligence is a sociological phenomenon, and that there are major international efforts through various bodies to reach agreements on how this technology will be applied for the benefit of society, while controlling its negative effects.
“The answer lies in regulations and standards that are being established, and countries need to respect them. This is indeed one example of the negative use of technology. With the advent of the internet, the world has become a global village, where you can send a message to the other side of the world in a split second and know what’s happening,” said Kljajić.
He said that this very ease of communication carries risks, because you can receive a fake message or a promise of a prize, and these tools make it easier to generate such fraudulent activities.
“For two years we’ve been exposed to a wave of generative artificial intelligence. People are already starting to recognise fake content. The kind of education and public awareness needed to recognise this is down to the institutions and the state, and an EU regulation prescribes strict rules on how such a system may be used,” said Kljajić.
Kljajić said we must start by asking ourselves whether it is normal for a doctor to call you and ask for money, so that we can develop our own defence mechanisms when faced with such scams.
“Every era brings new forms of crime, and so does artificial intelligence. This could grow into an even greater danger. Fraudsters are intelligent people, and they exploit someone’s condition and emotions. That’s how they try to get hold of money,” said Radenković.
Radenković claims that these are not people from Serbia, but from neighbouring countries, and says that an investigation is under way.
“A large number of reports never reach the police because people give up. Even when the scam isn’t very convincing, people react emotionally, and that’s exactly what the fraudsters are aiming for,” said Radenković.
Expert on AI regulation: The world has become a global village – now they can send you a fake message even from the other side of the world; Source: Kurir Television
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