The Relentless Rise of Scams: Can AI Help Us Fight Back?

We’ve all seen them – those deceptively simple messages that trigger a moment of panic or urgency. "Your package is on hold. Click here." "Your EZPass toll payment is past due. Pay now to avoid legal action." These are just a few examples of the sophisticated scams that are now a ubiquitous part of our digital lives. We are all potential residents of Scamland.

The statistics are staggering. Last year alone, Americans lost over $16 billion to online scams, a shocking increase from the $10.3 billion reported the year before, according to the FBI. Fueled by artificial intelligence, cybercriminals are targeting individuals across all demographics with increasingly sophisticated tactics, including deepfake videos, convincing bogus texts, and highly targeted phishing emails. These scams are so well-crafted that almost everyone is vulnerable at some point.

Recognizing the severity of the problem, cybersecurity company McAfee has recently introduced a new suite of features designed to combat these online threats. Called Scam Detection, this service is now included in all of McAfee’s main protection plans, starting at approximately $50 per year. The question remains: can this new technology effectively stem the rising tide of increasingly cunning scams?

To find out, the author took the new service for a test drive. Before diving into the specifics of how Scam Detection works, the article explores the experiences of individuals who have fallen victim to online scams, highlighting just how easily even tech-savvy people can be deceived.

DeShawn Hoskins, a 34-year-old filmmaker from Austin, Texas, recounted his experience of losing over $400 after clicking on a text message purportedly from a mail carrier. "I had a bunch of packages on the way, so the text made total sense. It fit the moment perfectly," he explained. The perfect timing and apparent legitimacy of the message led him to click without hesitation, a decision he immediately regretted. "It made me feel like a sucker," he admitted.

Cory Camp, a 30-year-old personal trainer and life coach, also from Austin, shared a similar story. He received a text message that appeared to be from Verizon, his mobile carrier. In reality, it was a sophisticated SIM card hijacking scam. "It was one click. That’s all it took. I’ll never forget how fast it happened," Camp said. The scammers took control of his phone, leaving him with a dead device and unexpected new carrier bills that took months to resolve. Camp, like many others, believed that such scams only targeted older, less tech-savvy individuals. "I felt like an idiot. I really did. I thought this kind of thing only happened to older people."

Beth Hyland, a 54-year-old administrative assistant from Portage, Michigan, experienced an even more devastating scam. She fell victim to a romance scam on Tinder, orchestrated by a conman who swept her off her feet. Within just two months, he proposed marriage and convinced her to wire him $26,000, a significant portion of her retirement savings, to "unlock" a frozen multimillion-dollar payout. It wasn’t until her financial advisor intervened that Hyland realized she had been scammed.

"It felt like being kidnapped by aliens. Like I was drugged on my own brain chemicals," Hyland shared. She described the experience as emotionally and financially devastating, highlighting the manipulative tactics employed by scammers. "I was falling in love. But it wasn’t real. And it nearly destroyed me."

The author emphasizes that falling victim to a scam is not a matter of intelligence or awareness. Anyone can be targeted, as demonstrated by her own experience. On the very morning she was scheduled to interview McAfee about their new Scam Detection service, she received a phishing email that appeared to be from the McAfee team, requesting her signature on a non-disclosure agreement. Despite her expertise in writing about scams, she almost fell for it.

"I write about scams for a living – and I still fell for it," she confessed to McAfee’s Chief Technology Officer Steve Grobman and Senior Product Manager Adam Curfman. The timing, wording, and intention of the email were remarkably convincing, raising the question of how scammers are able to create such highly targeted attacks.

Grobman explained that these seemingly coincidental attacks are not random. Cybercriminals are highly data-driven, leveraging information obtained from data breaches and online tracking to personalize their scams. They purchase and mine leaked records from massive data breaches, such as last year’s 1.35 billion breach notices, to gather personal information like email addresses, phone numbers, and recent purchases. They also scan public posts on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for "trigger events" such as moving announcements, vacation photos, and shipment updates. Furthermore, they utilize third-party cookies on a significant percentage of websites to track users’ browsing activity, including visits to banking and shopping sites.

AI-powered bots scour forums and dark-web markets for the latest successful phishing templates, allowing them to rapidly develop new, hyper-targeted campaigns. By combining all of this information, scammers can create highly convincing and personalized scams that are difficult to detect.

"When you combine all of that, those ‘coincidences’ become precise pattern recognition," Grobman explained. "Awareness alone won’t cut it – you need a defense that learns and adapts every single day, which is exactly what our AI-powered Scam Detection delivers."

Fortunately, the author recognized the phishing attempt before providing any sensitive information. However, the experience served as a stark reminder of the sophistication and effectiveness of modern scams.

McAfee’s Scam Detection service aims to provide a proactive defense against these threats. The service works by scanning emails, texts, direct messages, and social media platforms for potential scams in real time. Users sign up, add the app to their mobile devices, and grant it permission to scan their accounts. On desktop and laptop computers, a web extension is added.

The system then runs in the background, analyzing all incoming communications and flagging suspicious content. If a potential scam is detected, the user receives an instant notification warning them not to respond and explaining why the message is considered suspicious. The service also provides educational resources to help users avoid being duped in the future.

"We built this to meet people where scams happen most," said McAfee product manager Adam Curfman. "That means texts, social apps, even fake videos. This tech flags suspicious content before it can trick you, and we’re constantly evolving along with the [scammer techniques]."

In addition to the automated scanning, Scam Detection also offers an interactive element. Users can take screenshots of suspicious messages and text them to McAfee for analysis, providing a second opinion.

Early users of Scam Detection have reported positive results, but emphasize that it is not a foolproof solution. "It’s not magic. But it’s one more layer between you and getting swindled," said Cory Camp. "It’s like a seatbelt. You hope you never need it – but you’re glad it’s there."

DeShawn Hoskins added that the technology can help users slow down and think before reacting to potentially scammy messages. "We’ve been trained to click fast," he said. "This tech forces you to slow down and think. That alone could save someone’s entire life savings."

McAfee claims that Scam Detection can already catch deepfake videos with up to 96 percent accuracy and scammy texts with a 99 percent track record. While this technology offers a welcome layer of protection, McAfee recognizes that it is only part of the solution.

The company has also partnered with a non-profit organization called FightCybercrime and launched the Keep It Real campaign to share stories of scam survivors, aiming to reduce the stigma associated with being victimized and to warn others.

Beth Hyland emphasizes the importance of changing the language we use to describe scam victims. "We don’t ‘fall’ for scams or get ‘duped.’ We’re victimized and manipulated," she insists. "That language matters. So does talking about it. Scammers count on our shame and silence."

The article concludes by acknowledging that scams are pervasive and will likely continue to evolve. However, taking proactive steps, such as using scam detection technology and raising awareness, is crucial in the fight against cybercrime. By doing something, we can at least stop blaming ourselves and hopefully, start clicking less.