*The United States’ Consumer Federation of America, in its latest report, highlights a dramatic surge in digital deception, exposing how cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence tools are being hijacked by ‘bad actors’, advocating a sweeping overhaul of how tech companies are held responsible for misuse of their platforms

Gbenga Kayode | 绿帽献妻

In regard to cybersafety, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reportedly making online scams “smarter”, and more dangerous for digital consumers in recent times.

绿帽献妻 gathered Americans lost over $16 billion to online scams 2024, as fuelled by generative AI, and which was estimated at 33 percent increase from that of 2023.

Experts and other industry stakeholders are advocating stricter regulations to protect consumers in cyberspace.

Concerned about the development in the American country’s digital ecosystem, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) opined that Generative AI is making scams harder to detect, more believable, and more frequent lately.

Seniors lost nearly $5 billion, with calls for stronger regulation and corporate accountability growing louder in the digital space.

Besides, a fresh report from the Consumer Federation of America indicated a troubling picture of how Generative Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming the landscape of online fraud.

Titled 鈥淪camplified: How Generative AI Can Amplify Scams and Fraud with No Regulation or Responsibility鈥�, the report also detailed a dramatic surge in digital deception, exposing how cutting-edge AI tools are being hijacked by bad actors to perpetrate more sophisticated, targeted, and difficult-to-trace scams in the online space, report noted.

It is also noted that older Americans, alarmingly, bore the brunt, losing nearly $5 billion 鈥� a figure the report stresses is likely a severe undercount due to chronic underreporting.

Generative AI as a new weapon

From deepfake audio impersonations of family members in distress to chatbots capable of generating phishing e-mails free from typos or awkward phrasing, Generative AI is fuelling a new wave of hyper-realistic scams, according to CFA.

The report further highlighted how these tools are being used to execute frauds that are far more convincing and widespread than in the past.

Speaking on the development, Ben Winters, Director of AI and Privacy at CFA, stated: 鈥淚t鈥檚 irresponsible and unacceptable for companies to facilitate false content creation aimed at impersonating, defrauding, and blackmailing the average consumer without robust moderation.鈥�

Winters claimed that tech companies have been allowed to 鈥渟elf-regulate鈥� too long, effectively giving scammers powerful new weapons with minimal oversight.

The 鈥榮cam stack鈥�

The CFA report also discussed what it has termed the 鈥渟cam stack鈥�.

The Federation described this as an ecosystem of loosely regulated technologies working together to enable modern fraud.

These include: Data brokers selling personal information.

Robocall systems targeting thousands at a time.

Social media platforms where scams often originate, and

Payment processors that provide minimal fraud controls.

The CFA, therefore, warned the stakeholders that without immediate action, the situation will worsen as scammers continue to exploit AI tools faster than regulators or tech companies respond.

Urging the need for regulation, the CFA as well advocated a sweeping overhaul of how tech companies are held responsible for misuse of their platforms.

Some of the recommendations include stricter moderation requirements for Generative AI tools, and the need for Federal regulations to limit the unchecked spread of fraudulent content online.

The Federal also recommended the need for consumer protections and mandatory reporting mechanisms for financial fraud involving AI.

鈥淭his is not just a tech problem 鈥� it鈥檚 a consumer protection crisis,鈥� the report noted.

Therefore, as AI continues to shape the digital world, consumer advocates have warned that failing to regulate its abuse in fraud schemes could result in billions more lost, particularly for vulnerable populations like seniors in economies around the world.

The CFA added that without proactive regulation and meaningful accountability, AI will continue to amplify fraud at an alarming scale in cyberspace.

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