The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau revealed nearly 9,000 people in London alone have become victims of romance fraud. Losing a total over £94.7million, or roughly £10,774 each on average.
With the season of love in the air, fraudsters may be upping their game through AI profiles and messages to target more people with more convincing strategies. However, there are some tell-tale signs that could give them away.
Christoph Cemper, founder of AI prompt management tool AIPRM, explained some romance scammers may use photos, videos or other media to assure victims they are real. Usually these deep-fakes impersonate celebrities, making victims think they’re helping out one of their favourite stars.
The expert warned: “Deep-fakes often aren’t able to perfect the fine details of a real image or video. Pay attention to the fine details and attributes that might not look quite right, for example, errors in hair, nails, or teeth, could be a key indicator that the image is AI generated.”
Blurriness on the edges of faces and objects and inconsistencies in lighting, reflections or mouth movement that doesn’t quite match up to the sound could be a major sign that you’re looking at AI instead of a person. The expert continued: “Lastly, if the audio sounds too perfect or unnaturally ‘smooth’, it could be a sign of deep-fake manipulation.”
AI can also infiltrate text messages to replicate the tone and mannerisms of celebrities but these can often be fraught with issues like bad grammar, inconsistencies and odd phrasing. A key aspect of romance scams, whether it’s being run by AI or manually by fraudsters, is a strong emotional trigger that encourages you to take urgent action.
If you experience any sort of unexpected emotional pull, pressure or urgency the expert advised steering clear of this “red flag”. Christoph warned if people spot these signs they should avoid responding and report the content to their local fraud and cybercrime centre.
He emphasised: “As a general rule, anything that seems too good to be true, most likely is.” The expert urged people to spread awareness among their peers as well and not to feel ashamed if they have been victimised by a romance scammer as “your experience can help prevent others from falling victim.”
If you believe you have been a victim of a romance scam, whether you’ve sent money or just personal information, the expert urged: “I recommend alerting your bank immediately to report any financial loss, and getting them to cancel payments or freeze your account. Report the scam to your local centre for fraud and cybercrime.”