Scams are evolving with technology. Generative AI is a game changer for scammers and has been blamed for the rise in increasingly sophisticated phishing campaigns. It is also enabling scammers to add credibility to their schemes by providing a quick, cheap, and easy way to create fake websites, videos, documents, and photographs. Tasks that once required technical expertise can now be accomplished in seconds using widely available generative AI tools. These fabricated materials are commonly used to support false narratives, particularly in romance and investment scams, where fake apps and websites are frequently used to reassure potential victims. But generative…
Martina Dove
Martina Dove
Martina Dove is a researcher and a published author specializing in scam psychology. This incorporates persuasion and social engineering techniques, as well as errors in judgment and other individual factors that increase scam vulnerability. She combines psychological science, behavioral insight, and real-world scam examples to explore how scammers influence decision-making and how victims can better protect themselves. Beyond academic writing, she works in the tech industry as a strategic product researcher, with focus on cybersecurity, observability and AI, including the responsible use of AI.
Sextortion is a form of extortion or blackmail in which a criminals threaten to share private or intimate information or images unless a victim gives them money. Criminals can get hold of these images by compromising credentials or coercing someone into sending the images or create deepfakes (i.e., images created with the help of AI) that depict the victim. Additionally, some forms of sextortion include phishing emails stating that the victim has been filmed without their knowledge. Even though this is typically a lie, many victims are sufficiently scared and end up complying with the scammers’ demands. Evolution of Sextortion…