Microsoft's latest Cyber Signals report reveals AI-assisted scams targeting e-shoppers and job seekers.
"Cybercrime is a trillion-dollar problem, and it's been going up every year for the past 30 years," said Kelly Bissell, the corporate vice president at Microsoft.
AI-assisted scams
With the rapid rise of AIAI's, what used to take scammers days or weeks to create can now be done in minutes. Even low-skilled attackers can now generate sophisticated scams. In the report, Microsoft has revealed e-commerce fraud using fake shopping websites and deceptive AI-powered customer service chatbots, fake listings on job platforms, and tech support scams tricking victims into unnecessary technical support services to fix non-existing device or software problems.
Preventing AI-assisted scams
Microsoft urges shoppers to be wary of offers with "limited-time" deals, countdown timers, exploitative AI-generated reviews, influencer endorsements, and testimonials. Shoppers should avoid clicking suspicious AI-optimised social media ads.
Jobseekers should avoid job listings that ask them to provide personal or financial information, pay for a job opportunity, or communicate via unofficial channels.
Microsoft has also introduced solutions to prevent scams, such as typo and domain impersonation protection, Digital Fingerprinting, and Blocking Full Control Requests.
"We have an opportunity today to adopt AI faster so we can detect and close the gap of exposure quickly. Now, we have AI that can make a difference at scale and help us build security and fraud protections into our products much faster," Bissell said.
