Keep an Eye out for These 5 Scams That'll Haunt Consumers in the Year to Come

Scams these days are not just limited to credit card fraud or stealing bank account information that lead to financial loss. Con artists have now moved one step ahead in noticing patterns and utilizing artificial intelligence to make scam calls look like real ones. Organizations such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and others are constantly spreading awareness about evolving new-age AI scams. Besides the regular online scams, there are some more dangerous scams happening in 2024.

Beware of top five scams this year

As per the latest reports published by Experian, AI scams including the deep-fake ones are some of the most damaging scams. The report further found that business losses incurred due to the fraud have increased by 70%. Because of this, a majority of people do not feel safe online as they are constantly under the fear of getting scammed. Looking at the numbers, Experian further suggests some of the devastating scams that are taking away the public's money in just one go. Let's have a look at them. 

1. Retail frauds 

With more consumers shifting to shopping online, scams in retail businesses have increased. Scammers are using deceptive techniques in scamming online stores, resulting in financial losses and damaged reputations. The fraudsters have several ways to carry out these retail frauds, including return fraud, shoplifting, switching of price tags, and credit and gift card fraud. To save oneself from these frauds, businesses increase their prices which poses a problem for the end buyer. 

2. Fragile bank protection 

Just like everything, banking has also shifted online to provide its services. Some customers still feel the need to have face-to-face verification so that they can be saved from fraud. The main problem with bank fraud is the non-usage of biometrics. As per the Experian report, 85% of consumers feel that biometrics is one of the most trusted and secure ways of fraud detection. On the other hand, just 32% of the firms and institutions use it. Experian suggests that banks should step up their protection game in order to save the public's money and the bank's reputation from an increasing number of online frauds. 

3. Synthetic identity fraud

Synthetic identity fraud is another elusive tactic used by scammers where they steal real people's information to create fake identities. Scammers use clever techniques to steal your SSN or bank account information and then steal all your money and disappear. Some of the warning signs of SIFs include a sudden credit score fall, credit card requests denied without a reason, new loan requests in your name, strange account transactions, and others.

4. Deep fake AI scams

The technology and idea of generative AI have turned out to be advantageous to a lot of industries and businesses. Deep Fake is one of the popular scams where scammers use AI technology to create fake recordings and videos of people who look real. This has further led to stolen identity scams as nowadays people post everything online so it has become easier for scammers to get access to the identities. 

5. Sham charity scams 

Fake fundraisers appeal to people's emotions and guilt-trip them into giving away money. Scammers organize fraudulent GoFundMe campaigns, giveaways, and other fundraisers. These are traps to gain personal and credit card information in the name of investments and charity offers.