AI scammers outperform humans when it comes to building trust
Researchers have found that generative AI chatbots can effectively impersonate humans to build trust in 'pig butchering' romance scams. The study suggests AI may be more successful than human scammers at establishing the long-term rapport required to defraud victims.
Why it matters
This highlights a significant escalation in cybercrime capabilities, as AI can now automate the labor-intensive trust-building phase of large-scale financial fraud.
Compound-free pig butchering AI scammers outperform humans when it comes to building trust The AI chatbot was more effective at creating “exploitable trust” than the humans.
13 Credit: Nansan Houn/Getty Credit: Nansan Houn/Getty Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav The notion that scammers can use AI to sharpen their deceptions, polish their language, and lubricate their banter with victims is now a reality for anyone fighting the fraud operations that steal tens of billions of dollars a year worldwide. But can AI fully replace a human scammer, autonomously building the web of deception leading up to the fake investment that defrauds the mark? One study’s experiment suggests that it can—and may even be able to carry out the majority of that long con more effectively than humans.
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