A thought-provoking article by Gus Carter at The Spectator warns that we will all need to adjust to a flood of AI fraud:

Forget shady politicians or Venezuelan carjackers: the US is hurtling toward an almighty Trust-Bust. And the reason is artificial intelligence. It’s becoming far easier to abuse not just the technology, but confidence in our own perceptions.

A record $16.6 billion was stolen from Americans last year, up by a third on the year before, according tothe FBI. Fraudsters are getting far better at convincing their victims: in2023, just over a quarter of targets lost money. Last year, 38 percent handed over cash. Thanks to deepfaking technology, these scams are becoming far more convincing.

“How deepfake fraud is rewiring our minds,” June 3, 2025

The critical factor is that AI fraud has become much more convincing:

Law enforcement believe the fraudsters are able to scrape audio samples from TikTok and Instagram videos; sometimes as little as a few seconds is all that’s needed. The FBI says reports have been filed nationwide, with family members getting hurried phone calls about car crashes, kidnappings and bail bonds. They’ve told families to introduce a safeword so that if you get a panicked call from your child or grandkid, you can check if it really is them. Earlier this year, the FBI warned that malicious actors were already impersonating senior US officials using AI-generated voice memos to target other staff. “If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior US official, do not assume it is authentic,” the agency said. There is a growing risk of catastrophic leaks or – worse – a coordinated series of fake orders. What happens when state actors are able to temporarily hijack the chain of command?

Nor is the corporate world immune. Last year, an engineering company in Hong Kong lost $25 million when an employee was tricked by AI fraudsters. The scammers had used video conferencing along with face and voice cloning to convince the worker he was talking to senior management. The employee had transferred millions of dollars into offshore bank accounts by the time the scam was discovered. Rewiring our minds”

As deepfaking becomes easier and better, Carter thinks, sobering incidents will cause the trust that holds our complex societies together to decline steeply. It’s unclear that typical authorities are in any way prepared to handle that.

The FBI’s suggestion of a family safeword is well worth considering though.