Roger Brosch: warns of sophisticated AI scammers

Foster Denovo’s CEO, Roger Brosch talks about how advisers and clients should remain vigilant as there is an increase in sophisticated AI scammers.

“We have seen high-profile examples of the way artificial intelligence (AI)-generated “deepfake” audio and video have been used to instigate political and social division. Sadiq Khan’s voice was copied in a widely-circulated audio clip and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was apparently filmed, saying Ukraine was to surrender in the war against Russia.

Both these disinformation attempts were rumbled but that didn’t stop them being seen by many people on social media.

After writing before about the power of AI to be truly and wonderfully transformative, the flip side is, equally, worth examining and the potential impact is much wider than just those in the media spotlight.

Given their pivotal role in managing their clients’ financial lives, advisers need to equip themselves and their clients against this new frontier for fraudsters.

Having recently heard some heart-breaking real-life examples of what happened when someone didn’t stop and verify who they were interacting with, I am unapologetically going to use this as an opportunity for a bit of public service broadcasting!

Staying alert and doing the things we all know we should do to stay safe online remain robust first lines of defence against scammers of all hues.

All too often, however, when rushing or under pressure, these basic safety checks are side-stepped in everyday life.

It used to be that you had to ‘see it, to believe it’. These days you can’t even trust what is in front of your eyes.

Fraudsters are using AI to mimic video, mimic voices, manipulate emails, and create hyper-realistic scenarios that can lead to devastating financial loss.”

Read the full article on Professional Adviser here.