Technology, friend or foe?
That which is supposed to make people and businesses and governments smarter, life easier, the world more productive and banish forever the need for dictionaries, reference books and independent thinking also makes it easier to rip off anyone and everyone.
It’s like the nasty computer with an attitude, HAL, in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but amplified.
Whereas HAL’s crimes were movie make-believe, real technology today is helping crooks really steal from a growing number of people.
The 2020s’ equivalent of HAL, known as artificial intelligence, or AI — also known as Awfully Intrusive for those of us who resent pop-up ChatGPT or Copilot trying to rewrite our emails — is replacing the safecracker, check forger and bank robber as the biggest thief to steal the headlines.
AI can help crooks find the easiest marks, those most likely to become their next victims. It makes stealing more efficient. And just like HAL, AI isn’t encumbered by principles — those don’t compute.
It seems every week brings new examples of AI powering dishonesty.
The Internal Revenue Service is warning people that scammers use AI to analyze social media content to determine a potential victim’s interests, personal situation and life goals so that the imposter can tailor a more convincing pitch.
It allows thieves to win over a victim’s trust as they sell them on whatever bogus investment or other scheme they have going.
Emails that make soon-to-be victims feel comfortable, that someone knows them and shares their interests, can be exceedingly effective at emptying bank accounts. Since 2024, the scam has reportedly been used to steal over $1 billion, with the majority of victims at least 60 years old, according to FBI data.
And AI is not used only in big-dollar thefts. The powers of technology enabled scammers to deliver look-alike websites after Joann Fabrics filed for bankruptcy in January. AI-powered tools cloned the look and feel of the real Joann’s website. Scammers, with their trusty companion in crime, built imposter websites and went fishing for victims.
Unknowing shoppers went to the sites, attracted by deep discounts, and turned over their credit card information for orders that never arrived.
The fake Joann websites are costly examples of increasingly sophisticated website scams that can fool even careful consumers, according to the Better Business Bureau.
“The scary thing is just how easy it is,” Robert Duncan, vice president of intelligence and strategy at cybersecurity firm Netcraft, told The Wall Street Journal. “It allows more nontechnical people access to the tools, lowering the barrier of entry.”
Though as with all change, there is good to go along with the bad. Companies are using AI to do a better job of fighting AI crime.
One new company, New York City-based IVIX, provides AI software to financial law enforcement agencies in the U.S., Europe and Asia to help them spot and stop money-related crimes.
Just as AI makes it easier for con artists to identify victims by their social media habits, IVIX uses its increasingly powerful AI software to scan data, looking for signs and evidence of offshore accounts, money-laundering, cryptocurrency networks and other indicators of dishonesty.
It’s as if HAL has a good twin brother or sister. Maybe the twins should stage a cage match to determine a winner, though it’s hard to imagine the evil twin would fight fairly.
Larry Persily is a longtime Alaska journalist, with breaks for federal, state and municipal public policy work in Alaska and Washington, D.C. He lives in Anchorage, is publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel weekly newspaper, and serves on several nonprofit boards.
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