{"id":238685,"date":"2025-09-19T10:28:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T10:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238685\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T10:28:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T10:28:19","slug":"kirstin-downey-ai-is-making-it-easier-for-scammers-to-target-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238685\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirstin Downey: AI Is Making It Easier For Scammers To Target Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

The caller claimed to work for HECO, and what he said left a Kailua woman frazzled and uncertain. <\/p>\n

Kailua residents Jill Butterbaugh and her husband Nik were visiting a farmers market on the Big Island last month when her cell phone rang. She let the call go to voicemail. But when she finally picked up the message, she got some troubling news.<\/p>\n

\u201cAloha Jill,\u201d said a friendly sounding man who said his name was Michael and that he worked for Hawaiian Electric Co.<\/p>\n

He referred to her home address and told her that her electric meter was being replaced and that her home utilities would be disconnected unless she called him back quickly at a phone number he provided.\u00a0The work order to disconnect the power had already been placed, he said.<\/p>\n

He thanked her for being part of what he called the \u201cHawaiian Electric team\u201d and hung up.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ideas showcases stories, opinion and analysis about Hawai\u02bbi, from the state\u2019s sharpest thinkers, to stretch our collective thinking about a problem or an issue. Email news@civilbeat.org<\/a> to submit an idea or an essay.<\/p>\n

To Jill, this sounded like an emergency. She was on vacation and away from her home. She called HECO to double-check but the company\u2019s automated line said only that they were closed for the weekend and wouldn\u2019t reopen till Monday.<\/p>\n

She was on her own.<\/p>\n

Butterbaugh had to decide what to do. If she did nothing, and the call was real, and the power was disconnected, the food in her refrigerator would spoil. But what if it wasn\u2019t real? What if it was a scam to get her to call back, to entice her into paying money she didn\u2019t owe?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me panic a bit,\u201d she recalled recently, reliving the chain of events and describing the anxiety she felt.<\/p>\n

The Internet Gets More Dangerous\u00a0<\/p>\n

What happened to Butterbaugh is becoming an everyday occurrence in Hawai\u02bbi and all around the world, as scammers with new technological tools and easy access to consumers\u2019 personal information are becoming ever more inventive at rooking the unwary.<\/p>\n

Almost every month, it seems, we are forced to decide whether a text or email is true or fake, whether we should take action on it or not, and whether we will risk real damage to ourselves if we guess wrong.<\/p>\n

Many people in Washington, D.C., are becoming increasingly worried about the proliferation of these kinds of scams. The situation is expected to get a lot worse as artificial intelligence makes it easier for criminals to gather information about people they want to victimize and help them make increasingly sophisticated approaches.<\/p>\n

\"\"The cover of a new report by the National Consumers League. (Screenshot\/2025)<\/p>\n

Ostensibly legal companies are being created that will enable fraudsters to prey on people even more easily, particularly through voice-cloning, which allows scammers to impersonate the friends and family members of their victims.<\/p>\n

Recent news accounts and congressional\u00a0testimony<\/a> have highlighted some of the terrible things coming to light, including teenagers driven to suicide through interactions with chatbots; senior citizens defrauded of their life savings through\u00a0romantic deceptions<\/a>; mass-scale human trafficking to enable \u201cpig-butchering\u201d<\/a> operations in Asia where enslaved workers are forced to participate in fraudulent schemes to extract money from people living in wealthier nations.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0panel in Washington<\/a> hosted by the National Consumers League, a 125-year-old nonprofit dedicated to worker rights and consumer justice, brought experts on consumer fraud, government officials and tech executives together this week to talk about efforts that are being made to combat these vexing new problems.<\/p>\n

They\u00a0also prepared a report<\/a> on the issue.<\/p>\n

Consumer Protection Is Unraveling<\/p>\n

I attended the conference in Washington. I serve on NCL\u2019s board of directors and played a small role in helping organize it, as I\u2019m becoming increasingly concerned about the quickening pace of rapacious capitalism and the inability of our\u00a0political system to put essential guardrails in place to protect vulnerable people who are suffering under mounting financial pressure.<\/p>\n

Consumer protection, a mighty force back in the 1970s, has unraveled so quickly that no one expects anyone in a position of power to do anything to stop it.<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence, and the threat of fraud it poses, came to light during the Biden administration, but no action was taken. It is possible the Trump administration could undermine efforts to enact the stronger consumer protections that advocates believe are needed.<\/p>\n

Cutbacks at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for example, may make it harder to crack down on fraud, not easier.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAnyone with access to the internet can use AI tools to create a highly realistic piece of synthetic media that can be used to deceive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Smith, Microsoft<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But a group of idealistic people in Washington spent a long day Wednesday earnestly discussing what could and should be done. Some members of the surviving workforce from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were there, about six workers from the Federal Trade Commission were in the audience or speaking and one Treasury Department official in the audience pointedly asked whether tools were being crafted that would allow federal officials to block complicit foreign banks from access to the international financial system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Executives from Amazon, Google and CTIA (the cell phone trade group), all deeply invested in artificial intelligence initiatives, talked about the problems but issued warnings about unintended consequences of precipitate regulatory action, including the risk of losing an economic advantage against China.<\/p>\n

Microsoft executives, however, have more fully acknowledged the risks ahead and urged some action be taken.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe find ourselves at a moment in history when anyone with access to the internet can use AI tools to create a highly realistic piece of synthetic media that can be used to deceive: a voice clone of a family member, a deepfake image of a political candidate, or even a doctored government document,\u201d said\u00a0Microsoft\u2019s\u00a0Brad Smith in a white paper<\/a>. \u201cAI has made manipulating media significantly easier \u2014 quicker, more accessible, and requiring little skill. As swiftly as AI has become a tool, it has become a weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the conclusions reached by the conference participants were:<\/p>\n