Advancing AI fuels 'epidemic' of online financial scams

The assessment comes alongside an AAP FactCheck investigation into cryptocurrency scams targeting the Pacific Islands.

AAP FactCheck has analysed more than 100 Facebook accounts of self-described crypto traders, promoting themselves to residents of nations such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

A series of fact-checks have laid bare the methods of deception, including the use of fake profile images, doctored bank notifications and false claims of working for top financial institutions.

Experts say that while Pacific Island nations have been targeted due to poor financial and media literacy, plus ill-equipped law enforcement, this is a global issue.

In 2022, Australians lost more than $3 billion to scams, $377 million of which involved fraudulent investment schemes.

Ken Gamble, co-founder of cybercrime investigation unit IFW Global, said artificial intelligence was making the scams more sophisticated and harder to stop.

"There's a world epidemic of scams," Sydney-based Mr Gamble said.

"And now that AI is being introduced to the scams, the AI can now expedite the way in which these scams are marketed across social media."

He said the result was that scams could be created faster than they could be shut down.

"So it's actually uncontrollable."

Mr Gamble said scammers were also using AI to master local languages, allowing them access to "literally every nation on earth".

He said the Pacific Islands were particularly attractive as scammers knew they had limited law enforcement, without the time, training and resources to investigate.

"They know that nobody that they scam in those countries is ever going to have a hope in hell of actually recovering their money or investigating," Mr Gamble told AAP FactCheck.

Most of the scams originated from a number of organised criminal gangs in Israel, China and Nigeria, he added.

While sophisticated scams zeroed in on a select number of wealthy targets in western nations, Mr Gamble said fraudsters aimed for huge numbers of people in the Pacific, reaping multiple small sums of money.

A victim of one such scam in PNG told AAP FactCheck her ordeal started when a relative's Facebook account was hacked.

She thought she was discussing the legitimacy of an investment with a trusted relative, but was speaking directly to the scammer.

"He scammed me big time," the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said.

She handed over more than 15,000 kina (about $A6000).

Dan Halpin from Cybertrace, a Sydney-based cyberfraud investigations company, said a co-ordinated global response was essential to tackle the problem.

"This includes not only law enforcement agencies like local police and international bodies like Interpol but also involves raising awareness among the public, strengthening regulatory frameworks, and fostering collaboration between nations," he said.

Improving cyber literacy levels in the region is also essential, Mr Halpin said.

Mr Gamble said unless the issue started to be treated as a priority, the situation was going to worsen, fuelled by advances in AI.

"This is only the beginning of what you're going to see," he said.

Australian Associated Press