Romance scams set to become even more prevalent with rise of AI
As the FCA announces banks could be doing more to prevent romance fraud, with cases up 9% last year, RSM UK highlights this issue is set to become even more prevalent with the rise of AI-generated videos.
This comes as OpenAI’s latest text-to-video AI tool Sora hit one million downloads in less than five days. This widely available tool generates hyper-realistic videos from text prompts.
Erin Sims, fraud risk director at RSM UK said: “While banks are undertaking significant measures to protect individuals at risk of romance fraud, many of whom are from organised crime, they’re still falling short at preventing such scams. Fraudsters now have increasingly sophisticated AI tools at their disposal, making prevention even more challenging.
“Romance scams often begin online, and the infiltration of generative AI, particularly real-time deepfake videos and voice cloning, makes the deception even more convincing. The latest AI-generated videos which are taking the internet by storm, allow fraudsters to impersonate trusted figures and mislead individuals with convincing content, used to validate requests for payments.
“It’s clear that banks face an uphill battle. While they play a key role in protecting their customers, social media platforms and dating apps must also urgently step up. This starts with keeping abreast of the ever-increasing suite of tools and techniques fraudsters now have at their disposal. It’s also crucial that front line staff have ongoing training in spotting scams and signs of vulnerability among customers, as well as having a comprehensive aftercare plan in place. These measures should be tested regularly to ensure they remain fit for purpose.
“We have seen the rapid advancements in deepfakes within the past few months, and this is set to continue, so tackling romance fraud will require a more united front across banks, online platforms and law enforcement globally.”