In this day and age, where generative AI tools are becoming increasingly prevalent, threat actors have also begun using them to scam people out of their hard-earned money. Now, a new report from Hiya has showcased the true extent of this problem, revealing that the average American receives over 14 scam phone calls each month.
While these figures show a marginal decline compared to last year, thanks to initiatives like Operation Stop Spam Calls, the report highlights that scammers have diversified their approaches to deceive unsuspecting victims.
The most common types of phone call scams
Out of the 500 million calls observed by Hiya, the most frequent scam calls involve threat actors targeting Amazon users by making false claims of unauthorized purchases. If a user falls for the call, the scammers gain access to their Amazon accounts and make purchases in their name.
The second most common type of scam is the age-old fake insurance and medicare scheme fraud, where scammers attempt to sell counterfeit insurance policies or demand payments for non-existent outstanding bills to extract sensitive data, such as bank accounts or social security numbers. Additionally, credit insurance scams employ a similar tactic where threat actors pose as credit card companies and pressure unsuspecting users for an urgent renewal to obtain their credit details.
Although cryptocurrency has lost some popularity in recent months, crypto scams still lure victims with the promise of quick profits.
AI scams
Perhaps the newest kind, the AI scams, are some of the most ingenious types. This is because these scams involve threat actors cloning the voice of an individual using an AI voice cloning tool and then contacting their loved ones, convincing them that the person is in a dire situation, often a car accident, and urgently needs money to get out of it. Unfortunately, due to the apparent emergency, many loved ones act in panic and send money without double-checking.
SMS fraud
When it comes to SMS fraud, they follow a similar pattern to phone calls, with fake messages purportedly from CVS, fake payment notices, and political fundraising campaigns being the most common scams.
2023-11-01 15:06:07