TechCrunch Minute: How to protect yourself from AI scams

Written by
Anthony Ha
Published on
July 8, 2024, 4:15 p.m.

You probably like to think of yourself as reasonably sophisticated when it comes to online scams — you’re not opening random email attachments or sending money to Nigerian princes. But of course, scams evolve with new technology.

AI makes it even easier to perform these attacks at scale, while introducing a little personalization that makes scams harder to detect. So in today’s video, we cover some of the most common AI-powered scams and how you can protect yourself.

First, there’s voice cloning, where you might get a voicemail from an unknown number, but it sounds like a family member or friend asking for a Venmo payment to help them pay for car troubles, medical issues, or something like that.

In these situations, don’t try to detect a fake voice. Instead, be on the lookout for unfamiliar email addresses and phone numbers. If you get a message from someone you know using an unfamiliar account, try to reach out to them the way you normally would and see if they acknowledge the request or if they’re actually fine.

Hit play to learn about other scams, then let us know what you think in the comments!

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