Regrettably, 2024 was a good year for scammers.

Colorado is on pace to see a bigger financial loss from scams by the end of 2024 than the nearly $190 million stolen in 2023. The mass use of artificial intelligence could be driving the surge, according to the Colorado Attorney General’s office.

Long gone are the days of using clear misspellings, unprofessional website design and fishy email domains as reliable identifiers for online scams. With the recent explosion of artificial intelligence into everyday life, scammers have transitioned from using flashy pop-up advertisements to duplicating the voices of family members in fake emergency situations to extract money and information. 

“Artificial intelligence takes existing scam opportunities and puts them on steroids,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said. 

The FBI Denver Field Office reported scammers stole $187 million from nearly 11,500 Coloradans in 2023. This was an increase of nearly $9 million over the 2022 dollar amount — an upward trend that shows no signs of slowing down in 2024.

In 2023, the top three schemes with the largest dollar amount losses in Colorado were investment fraud ($60 million), business email compromise ($57 million) and tech support ($23 million), according to the FBI’s report. 

Weiser said his office has seen a record-breaking number of scam complaints since 2019, each year greater than the last. The complaints were reported through StopFraudColorado.gov, an education outreach program in the Attorney General’s Office where Coloradans can report cases of fraud and learn about online risks.

In 2019, consumers in Colorado filed 9,819 complaints and inquiries with the Consumer Protection Section in the Attorney General’s office. During 2023, the number of complaints hit 20,390. According to the FBI Denver Field Office, Colorado ranks seventh in the nation for complaints per capita.

“There’s no question that the use of AI is a part of what’s driving up those scams,” Weiser said.

“I hate to say this because it will be a painful occasion, but I’m bracing myself for that number to go up this year,” he added.

The most common types of complaints in 2023 were for unauthorized subscriptions and retail services, professional services, automobile sales and services, and home repair services.

The fifth most common complaint alerted Weiser’s office of imposter scams. He gave the example of the “grandparent scam,” which involves targeting victims who have a grandchild traveling abroad. The scammer will contact the grandparent, either by email or phone, to tell them that their grandchild is in jail in a different country and they need money right away in order to be released. 

The selling point comes when scammers use AI to replicate the voice of the grandchild in a phone call, making it more believable. 

“One of the scary parts is many people have a hard time understanding the difference between the so-called deepfakes made by AI and what’s real, and the implication of this means that everybody needs to practice constant vigilance,” Weiser said. 

One of the telltale signs that something is a scam is a false sense of urgency. The pressure from the scammer to “act now before things get worse” can keep people from calling appropriate family members or authorities to make sure the call is real. 

“Don’t trust those calls. Hang up, and then you can call the right source — the bank, for example — and ask, ‘Is there anything going on with my account, or is this a scam?'” he said. “You will have saved yourself a lot of headache and a lot of money by proceeding carefully as opposed to acting immediately.”

Weiser explained that the people most vulnerable to these scams are often younger internet users who are less experienced, and older adults who are perhaps overly trusting. 

“AI is not a brand-new technology, but the widespread use of ChatGPT has taken the adoption of AI to a new level,” Weiser said. 

Best practices to recognize and avoid potential scams

Austin Hastings, assistant vice president and data analyst for Colorado-based Alpine Bank, said customers often see repeats of the same types of scams until people stop falling for them — after which scammers select a new strategy and use it until failure.

“If there’s a big batch of people that fall for one scam and then … people start talking to each other, posting things on social media, (they’re) not going to be able to compromise as many people,” he said. “They’re almost incentivized to ‘stay fresh.'”

AI technology has been used by scammers to clone the voices of loved ones or employers (often paired with fake caller IDs), forge copies of trusted websites to steal login credentials, hijack smartphones and other devices with malware, and place fake QR codes over parking meters, restaurants and advertisements.

Hastings said they’ve seen an increase in reports of fraud involving AI this year, mostly in the form of phishing rather than video or audio manipulation. Part of what’s behind the increase is the ability of AI to mass-produce email and website templates to look like the real thing.

Alpine Bank, which serves over 170,000 customers across the state, suggests that its customers be extra vigilant around holidays as scammers are more active during seasons of high spending.

Alpine Bank offers the following guidelines to help consumers avoid falling victim to sophisticated scams:

• Never click on links or phone numbers from emails or texts you weren’t expecting. Instead, use a search engine or a saved URL to visit linked sites.
• Never share personal financial information or passwords. A legitimate bank will never ask for login credentials over phone or email.
• Avoid clicking on ads on social media, and never do so from retailers you don’t know or for deals that seem too good to be true.
• Stick with trusted retailers and verify the websites you visit by checking that the name of the website is correct and that a padlock symbol appears in the web browser’s address bar.
• Monitor your bank and financial accounts regularly for unauthorized charges.
• Don’t succumb to pressure tactics demanding money or gift cards. If it’s too good to be true, it is.
• Report all suspicious activity including texts, emails, phone or video calls to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (https://www.ic3.gov/) or the Federal Trade Commission (https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/).

“No. 1 would be, don’t click the link. But if you do, communicate it with the bank,” Hastings said. It’s better to report things right away, as timing can impact what kind of help victims can get from their bank. Alpine Bank has worked with victims of scams to recover funds, restrict accounts and coordinate with law enforcement.

Another way to avoid becoming the target of scammers is restricting the sharing of personal data, an option enabled by the Colorado Privacy Act in 2021. The act gives Coloradans the right to opt out of the sale of their personal data or its use for targeted advertising, as well as requiring entities to safeguard personal data.

“It’s a dangerous world out there, and AI is making it more dangerous, so please protect yourself and protect those you love,” Weiser said.