Huma Siraj
More than half a million dollars, along with almost everything else, had been lost by the time he discovered he had been conned.
A 63-year-old deaf former competitive swimmer only wanted a higher return than his 401(k) despite having a good nest fund and a government job. Instead, he discovered a highly advanced artificial intelligence (AI) scam that destroyed his marriage, depleted his savings, and left him with hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes and fines for taking large withdrawals from his retirement funds.
According to one victim, the swindle cost him his possessions, wife, and retirement. He continued by saying that his life had suddenly come to a catastrophic halt.
Digital Lies, Real Victims: AI Scam Exploits Deaf Senior on Facebook
The pattern of this episode was now well known. When the victim made a casual remark about golf on Facebook, a stranger messaged her. According to her, she is a successful skin care product wholesaler and investor. With pictures of doctors, pictures of her product boxes, travels to warehouses, and a Houston business location, the scammer appeared to cover all the bases. The victim thought everything was real.
In order to gain his trust and “bait the hook,” she then introduced him to a website called PawnFi (later renamed Polarise), and she even put $30,000 into his account. She persisted in communicating with him, sending him pictures and private information while cautioning him to keep everything private.
He used his own funds to start trading on PawnFi. Made few withdrawals. Saw large seven-figure profits. He was informed that he had surpassed the platform’s profit threshold and that he would need to pay a $250,000 tax bill out of pocket in order to retrieve his money. This was when the trap was finally closed. By the time this one scam ended, he had lost about $582,000 in total.
When Smart Isn’t Safe: AI Scams Outsmart Even the Tech-Savvy
This is not a novel tale. According to Joseph Albiñana and Chris Groshong, co-founders of CoinStructive, a company that assists victims of digital asset fraud, it’s becoming frighteningly common. What is the cause of the rapid proliferation of these scams? AI.
Groshong claimed in an interview that these con artists had advanced in skill. Their hyperrealistic personalities are being created with AI. Video discussions. Talking while lip-syncing. The ability to recognize a fake has changed during the past five years. AI has cut that line out.
Pig butchering schemes are the most prevalent type of scam, as fraudsters establish credibility over a period of weeks or months. In addition, CoinStructive reports impersonation scams, phony firmware updates, romance scams, and task scams in which victims are “hired” to complete pointless online activities in exchange for payment.
One client, an AI specialist, was duped by a convincing video chat with a scammer posing as a well-known investor, according to Groshong. He claimed to have lost $1.3 million. It included his whole nest egg. He’s still shocked that he fell for the crooks’ use of artificial intelligence.
The Data Guardian Network is a cutting-edge initiative dedicated to AI security and privacy by creating a community centered on gamification and moral data use. The CEO at DGN is Johanna Cabildo. According to her, artificial intelligence (AI) tools are making these attacks quicker and less expensive to execute, which exacerbates social engineering and gives scammers access to a larger audience of people who possess digital assets.
Airdrop scams that imitate genuine distributions, smart contract vulnerabilities improved through reinforcement learning, and wallet-draining scripts that adapt to avoid detection are examples of automated dangers that AI is enabling. AI was used in one effort to search Discord discussions for users requesting assistance and then respond with harmful links. Using comments that sounded human, it was impersonating “support staff,” Cabildo replied in a text reply.
Why Today’s AI Scams Are Almost Impossible to Detect
A popular pressure strategy, according to Groshong, is the tax-payment ruse: “They let you withdraw small amounts to build trust.” They then lock it down and demand more money when the sum reaches a certain level. To make matters worse, scammers frequently direct their own victims to phony “crypto recovery” services in an attempt to extract additional money.
According to a recent Statista survey, 72% of participants think AI is making scams more complex. Albiñana supports those conclusions. According to him, AI is making these scams more accurate and larger.
“People are being inundated with outreach,” he clarified. Phone calls, emails, pop-ups, and texts. All it takes is one weak moment. And now, thanks to AI, that “pretty face” or “video call” sounds and looks entirely real.”
It even fools the cautious and intelligent.
According to Albiñana, “every individual has a poison.” The focus of crypto frauds is not intelligence. They have to do with trust. And scammers are now better than ever at imitating that trust thanks to AI.
Outsmart the Scam: Your Guide to Staying Safe from AI Cons
To stay ahead of AI scammers, Groshong and Albiñana offer five essential tips you need to know.
- Never send money to anyone promising big returns especially if they contacted you first.
- Independently verify everything, from investment platforms to personal identities.
- Avoid using platforms that only communicate through encrypted apps like WhatsApp it’s a red flag.
- Be cautious of anyone who insists on secrecy or discourages you from talking to friends and family.
- Don’t trust video calls alone for identity verification AI can now fake those, too.
Cabildo emphasized that the key isn’t just spotting AI-generated fakes it’s about establishing verifiable trust, especially when dealing with digital assets.
“For individuals, that means treating every unsolicited message and ‘urgent opportunity’ with suspicion,” she explained.
Always double-check URLs it’s a simple step, but a common point of failure. On the project side, implementing multi-signature wallets that require multiple approvals for transactions is essential. Teams should also Adopt AI-powered security tools that can detect on-chain anomalies, like sudden, bot-driven token activity, she concluded.
If you’ve been scammed or suspect fraudulent activity, report it right away to the FTC, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and your local authorities. For those trying to recover lost digital assets, firms like CoinStructive offer support though even they acknowledge that successful recoveries are uncommon.
“Out of hundreds of cases,” Groshong shared, “only two clients have ever recovered their funds. And one of them is still waiting.”For the senior victim mentioned at the beginning of this article, all that remains is to move forward slowly rebuilding his life in the aftermath of the AI scam. A few kind-hearted individuals helped him launch a fundraising page to offer a lifeline of support and hope.
I’m taking it one day at a time,” he said quietly. “Life feels very different now. I’m more careful. More cautious.
