HOW TO STAY SAFE: Scammers are using Artificial intelligence to their advantage

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Artificial intelligence better known as “AI” is raising security concerns across Missouri.

The Better Business Bureau says scammers and hackers are using the technology to “fake” people out of their money. Scammers are taking the voices of celebrities or even your own family members to sell a product or grab your money.

“The problem is the voices that can be created are very convincing,” said Pamela Hernandez with the Better Business Bureau. “Something that’s been reported a lot to the BBB scam tracker is an ad for a Keto gummy supplement that appears to be Oprah.”

Hernandez says scammers call to order the product and are charged a lot more on their credit cards and that Oprah has absolutely nothing to do with the product. Experts say you should develop a healthy dose of skepticism and be alert of this scam trend.

”We’re seeing it in online ads in social media, text, and phone calls, and all those ways that scammers try to reach you online they are using that A.I. technology.”

While crooks and thieves may take advantage of A.I. some cyber security experts say the technology is not strictly a bad thing.

“I think instead of concerns I would say that we are just curious about it and we want to know how to best leverage it and how to enable our students,” said Drury Associate Cyber Risk Professor Dr. Shannon McMurtrey.

We asked McMurtrey about the scam concerns and how it works.

”You can take a recording of this interview and put my voice into a program and make it say anything you want,” said McMurtrey. “That’s where it gets scary because there’s a lot of bad that can come from that.”

McMurtrey emphasizes how important it is to think critically and to not just blindly accept things that you hear as fact.

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