TECH giant Google is increasing its use of Artificial Intelligence in a bid to prevent thieves emptying personal bank accounts.
The company has been using advancements in AI to protect users from online scams for more than a decade.
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But on May 13 it released a new report detailing how it is fighting scams and shared the increasingly technical ways it is using AI to keep users safe across its three key areas of Search, Chrome and Android.
It comes just weeks after Netflix users in the UK were warned they could be at risk of an online scam that could drain their bank accounts.
The fraudulent scheme tries to trick people into handing over their personal details, including logins and banking information.
The scam explains that this supposed pause was a result of a payment issue, prompting the receiver to input their data to restart their account.
They were then taken to a payment screen and prompted to enter their credit card details, and a fill in a form to unlock their Netflix account.
Filling out this information would give scammers access to the Netflix account – as well as the user’s bank account.
The Sun contacted Netflix for comment.
There has also been a spate of high-profile scams in recent weeks affecting high street stores, including Marks & Spencer, Harrods and Co-op.
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Thousands of people a year are affected by scams with thieves deceiving users to gain access to money, personal information, or both.
In its latest report, Google says AI is increasingly being used across Search, Chrome and Android, and has detailed which scams are most prevalent.
The first warning sign, says Google, comes after advancements in AI allowed analysts to observe a significant increase in bad actors on the web impersonating airline customer service providers and scamming people in need of help.
In a statement on its site, the company said: “We’ve already reduced these scams by more than 80% in Search, greatly reducing the risk that you call a scammy phone number.”
The second warning relates to remote tech support scams affecting Chrome users, with Google pointing out this is “one of the biggest online threats facing users today”.
The report states: “We’re now using Gemini Nano, our on-device large language model (LLM) on desktop, to provide Enhanced Protection users with an additional layer of defence against online scams.
“Our goal is to expand this protection to Android devices and even more types of scams in the future.”
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The final warning relates to scams on Android phones.
“Sometimes the risk from scammy sites can extend beyond the site itself,” the report states.
“If you’ve enabled notifications from websites, malicious sites can try to scam you through a barrage of notifications.
“To help you stay ahead of malicious, spammy or misleading notifications, we’re launching new AI-powered warnings for Chrome on Android.
“When Chrome’s on-device machine learning model flags a notification, you’ll receive a warning with the option to either unsubscribe or view the content that was blocked.
“And if you decide the warning was shown incorrectly, you can choose to allow future notifications from that website.”
The report also points out that scams are commonly being initiated through phone calls and text messages that appear harmless at first, but then evolve into dangerous situations.
It added: “We recently launched on-device AI-powered scam detection in Google messages and phone by Google to protect Android users from these types of sophisticated scams.“
How to protect yourself from scams
BY keeping these tips in mind, you can avoid getting caught up in a scam:
- Firstly, remember that if something seems too good to be true, it normally is.
- Check brands are “verified” on Facebook and Twitter pages – this means the company will have a blue tick on its profile.
- Look for grammatical and spelling errors; fraudsters are notoriously bad at writing proper English. If you receive a message from a “friend” informing you of a freebie, consider whether it’s written in your friend’s normal style.
- If you’re invited to click on a URL, hover over the link to see the address it will take you to – does it look genuine?
- To be on the really safe side, don’t click on unsolicited links in messages, even if they appear to come from a trusted contact.
- Be careful when opening email attachments too. Fraudsters are increasingly attaching files, usually PDFs or spreadsheets, which contain dangerous malware.
- If you receive a suspicious message then report it to the company, block the sender and delete it.
- If you think you’ve fallen for a scam, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use its online fraud reporting tool.
