Expert warns "AI is being weaponized" as spam calls get more deceptive during tax season
If you're getting barraged with spam calls during tax season, you're not alone. It's one of the busiest times for these schemes as people prey on stressed out taxpayers.
But if doing your taxes correctly isn't stressful enough this year, experts say artificial intelligence is making spam calls trickier to track.
They can "synthesize an American accent"
Clayton LiaBraaten with the spam call blocking app TrueCaller says the technology is getting more sophisticated.
"AI is being weaponized against the consumer. So now I can have better scripts, I can synthesize an American accent, even if I'm calling from Eastern Europe or East Asia. So it's a very busy time of year for us to try to protect consumers and our users," LiaBraaten said.
In 2023, Suffolk County Police told CBS News New York Investigates that an alleged scammer used AI to mimic a real girl's voice to trick her grandfather into paying thousands of dollars.
The technology has only improved since then, as people get spam calls about everything from their taxes to social security benefits.
"Scams really can effect anyone. We just noticed in the data that the elder population was losing the most amount of money. In some instances, they were losing their entire life savings," said Rebecca Rose, with the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General.
"We fight AI with AI"
Apps such as Robokiller, Hiya and TrueCaller, work to identify spam callers and then block them or warn users.
"We fight AI with AI. We're detecting the synthesized voices, we're detecting the scams, we're detecting the high-volume calls and making sure that our users are protected," LiaBraaten said.
Federal government agencies, especially the IRS, tend to communicate via the mail and will rarely, if ever, call you.
If you ever have doubt about whether you're actually speaking with a government agency, you can always look up the agency's phone number and reach out directly.
