LANSING -- As part of her ongoing Holiday Scams Campaign, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is re-issuing her Artificial Intelligence and Scams alert to warn residents about the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) by fraudsters to take advantage of consumers.
Rapid advancements in AI are being misused to create deepfake audio and video scams so realistic that they can even fool those who know us best.
"Artificial intelligence can be used legitimately as a tool to help make our everyday lives easier," said Nessel. "It is unfortunate that this technology is being exploited by bad actors intent on scamming and defrauding the public. This alert will help you avoid falling victim to con artists who use voice cloning tricks to play on your emotions and steal your money."
Scammers can clone a person's voice using audio data collected from public social media posts or videos. They can then call victims, spoofing the phone number of a loved one to impersonate them in distress and make urgent demands for money.
To guard against such scams, Attorney General Nessel recommends the following:
Establish a family verification phrase: Use a code word or phrase that only your family knows to confirm identity during suspicious calls.
Do not trust caller ID: Scammers can spoof phone numbers to make calls appear legitimate.
Verify the situation: If something feels off, hang up and call the person back using a known number.
Beware of unusual payment requests: Scammers often demand payment through cryptocurrency, gift cards, or money transfers -- methods that are hard to trace or reverse.
Nessel's alert also notes that scams often share common warning signs, including:
* Demands for sensitive information or unusual payment methods.
* File a report with the Federal Trade Commission at 877-382-4357.
* Report fraudulent charges to your bank, credit card company, or payment app.
* Contact the issuer of any gift card or money transfer service used.
Victims can also contact the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Team at 877-765-8388 or file a complaint online.
For more tips, visit the Attorney General's Recognizing a Scam page, and to view all the holiday scam alerts, www.michigan.gov/consumer-protection/scams/holiday-scams.