Suffolk expert warns people to be vigilant with AI scams on the rise
They say deepfakes and voice cloning are becoming more common
There's a warning from experts in Suffolk to take extra care - following a rise in the number of people falling victim to Artificial Intelligence (AI) scams.
It comes as new figures show fraudsters have stolen around £1 billion from bank accounts since the start of this year.
AI-based scams tend to be more dangerous than conventional scams, because they are harder to detect, with deepfakes allowing criminals to create seemingly legitimate audio and video, often featuring someone famous.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT phishing can give text the tone and coherence of legitimate sources, voice cloning can replicate a person's tone and language to trick someone else into having a genuine phone conversation, and verification fraud can be used to subvert standard security checks.
Mark Skillin is from Trading Standards in Suffolk - he told us AI scams are a growing concern: "We've seen some people believe they're conversing with family members or friends who then try and get money out of them...
"We're seeing a lot more now using more sophisticated types of scanning - particularly voice cloning and deepfakes...
"We've seen huge impacts on people's lives as a result of scams...
"People feel embarrassed and like they've let themselves down. It can have really long-lasting effects."
He has this advice for anyone concerned: "You'd normally be contacted out of the blue and there'd be no pre-amble to it.
"The key things to look out for are that you'll be pressured to act immediately, so you don't have time to think about it, and you'll almost always be asked for money."
If you're concerned you've been scammed, contact the police.