For all of the hoopla there has been about how ChatGPT and other Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications can increase efficiencies and create terrific new content, there’s another darker side to AI. It can also help fraudsters and identity thieves be more effective, too. Let’s review four ways that AI scams can impact your credit score.
Voice Scams—Faking an Emergency
“Voice scams” are on the rise. The Federal Trade Commission recently warned about these scams, where an unsuspecting person receives a voice message or call from a family member or friend who claims to be in urgent distress and needs money immediately. This is an old email scam, but generative AI can create a realistic enough voice that the person believes the caller is genuine, so they give them the money.
As if being a victim of such a scam isn’t upsetting enough, there’s a secondary injury beyond losing the money: It can hurt your credit score because it is partly based on how much cash you have on hand. Your suddenly lower bank balance will likely lower your credit score.
Voice Scams—Your Voice Is the Fake
Scammers are robocalling people to collect their voice samples. AI can synthesize someone’s voice with as little as a three-second clip. With another piece of information, identity thieves can use the person’s fake voice to call vendors, credit card companies, and more to get credit in their name. (Or they can use that fake voice to call their family members and ask for money.)
Fake Companies, Fake Investments
Scammers are using AI to create sophisticated profiles of companies that don’t exist to entice people into investing in these fake companies. With these, scammers may seek to get someone’s money. And they are also looking to acquire banking and other investment information that legitimate companies use to verify investors, but the scammers can then use that to forge new credit accounts.
Better Quality Phishing
You often used to be able to recognize an email scam because of obvious errors in the email—such as typos or poor grammar. However, scammers are using AI to clean up these solicitations, sending fake offers for new credit cards and more. In these emails, the scammer may not even ask for your credit information. Instead, they’ll ask for passwords and other verification information they can use to access—and then steal—your real accounts.
If you have had any issues with identity theft, been a target of scammers, or have other financial crime issues, contact an attorney as soon as possible. The Credit Report Law Group can not only help you correct your credit record, but the firm can also help you obtain compensation for any damages you have sustained.