Even the most experts in technology can fall into the online scam. One of them is Alex Rivlin, a real estate agent of Las Vegas who became without knowing it in the victim of a new and sophisticated scam. His case, uncovered by The Washington Post, ignites alarms on how new generative artificial intelligence tools, such as Google AI summariesthey are being exploited to give a new life to old deceptions.
A scam that began with a simple task. With a simple search to book a transport for a European cruise. When looking for Alex Rivlin, Royal Caribbean’s customer service number on Google, the answer is It was directly given by the search engine, With a tray phone number. What I did not know is that this number was not of the shipping company, but of some scammers.
A perfectly orchestrated hoax. By calling the number that the AI had offered, an alleged customer service worker answered that gave him the precise details about the transport he needed to use in Venice. He informed him of the rates and even negotiated the possibility of not charging some supplements that were in the company’s services portfolio.
Finally, they reached an agreement: it would cost him $ 768. And to pay it, he provided his credit card.
The scam was uncovered the next day. The victim detected that suspicious positions had appeared in his account and the name of the company that was charging him was not the ‘Royal Caribbean’, and Rivlin realized the deception. Fortunately, he could cancel his credit card and The bank returned the moneyalthough he was surprised at how well the scam was.
Old tricks, new and powerful ammunition: the AI. The Rivlin incident is not an isolated case, but the tip of the iceberg of a growing problem. The technique of publishing numbers of FALSOS CUSTOMER Customer Services Telephone It is not new, but the arrival of the generative AI has catapulted it to a new level of effectiveness.
Until now these scams took advantage of paying to appear in the first search results, but now that AI is the best weapon. This technology collects the information you can find in the network, but does not verify that it is authentic. In this way, if a telephone number is repeated on several websites and forums, AI can interpret it as a credible source and serve it directly to the user seeking help.
In fact, the research done by The Washington Post found that this same phone was related to large cruise lines such as Disney.
The response of technology and criticism of experts. Google has affirmed to The Washington Post that its summaries of AI and the Search results are usually effective When directing users to official information and that specific fraudulent examples have been eliminated. However, critics argue that it is not enough.
Lily Ray, Vice President of SEO strategy at the Amsive Digital Marketing firm, points out that allowing AI summaries to provide phone numbers “open a new opportunity for scammers, and one that they are clearly taking advantage of.” Security experts underline that Google It already has commercial information databases Verified to which it could give priority, instead of depending on broader web content and susceptible to manipulation.
Figmingly looking out of AI is not a good idea. This story lets us clearly see how hackers are going to find The way to get our data at all costs. In this case they have taken advantage of the trust we can have in the results of Google’s AI because it is the first thing that is seen. The same happened with sem search results that were located in the top positions, and that responded to our philosophy that the first link is always the best.
That is why the recommendation is very clear: we must always verify the information we are looking for as a telephone number, in the official source as on the company’s website or in its own application.
There are more scams related to AI. This example is not isolated, since we have seen studies that suggest that when we ask an AI a company of a company, It is possible that it is wrong. Something that gives the phishing. But they do not stay here, since the scams can reach Spotify reproduction lists either In a simple PDF.
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