Scams, Damn scams, and AI — You Must Read This

Courtesy ChatGPT

The Immediate Danger

We often see it written in blogs: 'you must read this,' or 'you must know this.' These hooks are designed to grab your attention, and sometimes that's all they are. But this blog is different. You should read this blog because it is particularly important to you. Because there is a real threat that you may not be aware of.

This is about AI scammers and how easily they can steal from you using AI.

If AI scammers are targeting Australians, they are likely targeting you as well if you live somewhere else in the world (I am not sure about aliens, but if you see any with sad faces ...).

Recently, I was watching a YouTube video, and had to sit through adverts. What was particularly interesting was an ad that purported to be about comments made by a well-known ABC journalist in Australia on how to make money. This appeared to be an interview with the individual in question.

During the course of the ad, other Australians were shown, including an important businessman famous for travelling around the world in a helicopter, and two billionaires. There were also several business icons displayed at the bottom of the page to give the appearance of a more professional look. All these people seemed to be waxing enthusiastically about a get-rich scheme, and that you had to act now, because this was only available for one day, and if you didn’t act today, it would be too late.

Curious, I foolishly decided to see what this was all about. I was wary, but not wary enough. My initial thought was that this was about real-life Australians, and that the ads were publicly appearing repeatedly across many videos. If this were a scam, it would have been quickly identified and removed.

At least that is what I thought.

I thought, probably, it was a scam, but I wanted to find out more about it, and so I leapt when I should have crawled because there is always some exposure if you don’t think things through carefully first.

The first sign that this was bogus was when it repeated over several days, when the hook was that you had to respond now, because this get-rich scheme was only available for one day.

Both the repetition over several days, and the suggested call to urgent action should have triggered my bullshit metre, but although I was sceptical, I was still intrigued.

I clicked on the link and was asked to input my details, name, phone number, and email address. I did so, thinking I would check out the site to see what it had to say about this scheme. When I went to the next screen after inputting my details, it asked me to enter my banking details.

I stopped, cleared the screen I was on, asked ChatGPT about scamming methods, and self-evidently didn't take this any further.

What happened next?

I received rapid-fire phone calls that I immediately blocked. Not only was I called within about 15 minutes of entering my details, but I was also called from at least five to six different phone numbers, and when one didn’t work, they used a different number.

The immediate takeaway: The beekeeper is never anywhere close by when you need him.

1: This scam was well thought out. They had used AI to create the impression I was interacting with real Australians, and that, of course, gave the scam a new level of legitimacy.

2: This was a highly professional organisation, and there had to be a large-scale call centre system behind this, giving a) how quickly they called me up after I had shut things down, and b) they were using multiple numbers to call from, and c) their response time, in using five to six numbers to call from, as they called rapid-fire one call after another, and this marked and unusual intensity driving their desire to hook me completely.

Why Aren’t These Ads Being Removed

My curiosity was piqued when I noticed that these ads were repeating frequently, almost every time I watched a video. So, I decided to ask ChatGPT why it hadn’t been taken down, and this is its response:

Short answer: a mix of scale, tricks, and gaps in rules.

How the scam ads slip through

• Automated reviews can be fooled. Platforms review huge volumes of ads with automated systems. Scammers use “cloaking” so the reviewer sees a harmless page while real users are sent to a fake investment site. Meta itself has explained how cloaking defeats ad review. About Facebook
• They hijack trusted pages. Criminals often run ads from compromised or verified brand pages, which helps the ad look legitimate and pass checks. ABC found scam investment ads running from hacked, verified pages, including big brands. ABC
• Verification gaps (now tightening). Google has required financial-services advertiser verification in Australia for some time; Meta only introduced stricter verification for Aussie financial ads late in 2024, after thousands of “celeb bait” take-downs. Scammers adapt faster than policy rollouts. Google Helpblog.googleReuters
• Cross-border operators and volume. Many syndicates run from overseas call centres and rotate domains, accounts and payment paths. Even with big take-downs, new ads reappear. Authorities and media have documented large international operations and continuing losses. The AustralianACCC

Why aren’t they removed instantly

• Cat-and-mouse at a huge scale. Platforms remove thousands of scam ads, but detection is reactive and scammers constantly retool creatives, domains and accounts. Meta and partners have reported mass removals, yet fresh waves keep coming. Cybernews9News
• Regulatory teeth arrived only recently. Australia’s Scams Prevention Framework passed in Feb 2025. It creates enforceable duties for banks, telcos and digital platforms and puts the ACCC in charge of enforcing platform obligations, but codes and enforcement ramp-ups take time. ACCCTreasuryNews.com.au
• Deepfakes add confusion. Fact-checkers have confirmed AI-manipulated videos of PM Albanese promoting “investment systems,” which can circulate faster than moderation can catch them. AAP

Final Takeaway

When something seems too good to be true, trust your instincts; it's likely fake.

There are no get-rich schemes that work. If anyone tells you that they are going to make you rich and that they only need a small investment from you, don’t walk, run.

I did not get scammed, but I lost skin in the game. Why? They know my name, my phone number, and my email address. From what they have, they can quickly find out my address.

What does this mean to me, and what does it mean for you?

They now have enough information to pretend to be me. Standard POI, Proof of Identity, is based on three pieces of information. Generally, the most common information requested is your name, phone number, and address.

Now, I am at real risk of Identity theft, and this is going to force me to get a new phone number from my carrier and change my email address. As these two pieces of information are intricately linked to my interactions with all the organisations I deal with, this means that I now have to review and update everything.

Trust your instincts: I did think of using a different email address that I had set up for possible situations like this, but, thinking I was still relatively safe, I was too complacent to do so.

WE have entered a new world. Nothing that we see or hear from now on can be trusted. That is the simple lesson you should learn from this. Do not think about how AI will affect your life in the future; it is starting to affect us, RIGHT NOW.

One positive lesson from all of this. I have learned, just as this is starting, that there are things I can do to mitigate the danger, and now I will never make this mistake again.

Simply things to understand.

1: If something is too good to be true, it almost definitely is.

2: If someone asks for your details, ask yourself why, ask yourself what they can do with it, and ask how that will affect your life.

3: If they ask you for money, two things should be immediately obvious to you. First, you are giving your money away, because you will never get it back — this is your bad, and they will now have your bank details, so they can go back as many times as they can to steal more of your money — your bank does not have to give you this money back, this is down to you.

Understand: You are not going to lose simply the money you give them; they are going to go back to your bank account and take as much as they can.

Safe sailing, my friends.

Copyright ©️ 2025 Philip Temple. All Rights Reserved.

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