In today’s digital world, scams have become increasingly sophisticated, and even the most vigilant individuals can fall victim to them. Scams have been increasing in volume and complexity. Google has revealed the five recent online scam trends.
The rise of accessible deepfake technology has allowed scammers to create sometimes-convincing public figure impersonation campaigns. These schemes often use AI to generate content that impersonates public figures to leverage their credibility and reach.
Scams related to crypto investment schemes with promises of too-good-to-be-true returns are on the rise. These scams sometimes leverage hyper-realistic impersonation, with videos or images appearing to imply affiliation with a trusted public figure, app or brand.
App and landing page clone scams deceive users by directing them to landing pages that differ from their intended destination but closely resemble the trusted brand’s web page or app. These fake pages often mimic the appearance of legitimate websites to trick users into providing personal information, downloading malware or making fraudulent purchases.
Scammers are using tactics like cloaking to present different content to Google compared to what a user sees. Cloaking is specifically designed to prevent moderation systems and teams from reviewing policy-violating content which enables them to deploy the scam directly to users.
Scammers frequently target elections, popular shows, sporting events, and humanitarian disasters with scams and fraudulent campaigns promoting fake products and services. By using AI tools, scammers are able to respond quickly to breaking news, making fraudulent appeals seem more credible and timely.