The time we are going to live in terms of digital scams is going to be terrible. Technology is going to make life easier, but a few people are going to use it for illicit purposes, and it will not have been easier for them to defraud than it is now with the tools available.
We have recently learned of the case of a multinational executive who made a $25M transfer to a scam. What is striking about this scam is how they did it, through Artificial Intelligence. He was summoned to a videoconference by his superiors, they were present and the CEO asked for the transfer, but there was only one problem: all the members of the conference were virtual, images and audio created with artificial intelligence.
In Navas & Cusí every day we see more scams or damage caused by security breaches, and what is most difficult to illustrate to customers with these scams is the following: the most serious problem is people. The scammers do not attack us only technically, but strive to alter our behavior or defenses through psychological techniques. An example is when we are contacted by someone on LinkedIn, we tend to trust what they tell us.
These scams or attacks cause real calamities, at corporate and individual level. That is why from Navas & Cusí we want to give some advice as lawyers experts in new technologies law:
- Distrust. Most recommendations pivot on this idea. On the Internet you have to act like Thomas Aquinas “if I don’t see it, I don’t believe it”. When we are contacted by outsiders, we must be clear: Internet friends are not real friends.
- Everything we are told by strangers by RRSS must be checked at least with two different sources, analyze the antiquity of that profile and do not give any personal data until you have checked everything well. In fact, we recommend avoiding giving personal data such as telephone numbers because that is where most scams come from. At first it may seem that there is no economic interest, but if they talk about a high standard of living or that we invested with them, we must flee. We have seen these scams in WhatsApp, LinkedIn, instagram, twitter…
- Mails asking for money, either Treasury, a regulator or a bank. Always make sure that the domain (what comes after the @) is authentic with the sender. In fact the ideal would be to copy what is behind the @ and search for it on the Internet
- Strange emails from our colleagues or suppliers. If a colleague (or boss) asks us for an expense not seen to date, you should check with him by phone, not by messaging. The same with suppliers, a change of bank account must be checked. And in both occasions you have to make mistakes with some essential data, if they correct us it is probably the right person, if they accept the error as true you have to be very cautious.
- Celebrity advertisements talking about money in the press. These are usually misleading advertising that only serve to make money, you have to run away. To date we have seen deepfakes with people like Elon Musk or Pablo Motos.
These are a few tips, because we insist that it is essential to solve attack the issues before the scam is suffered, recovering the money is complex.
In Navas & Cusí we help both prior to the scam through training or talks to teams or individuals, and subsequently if you have to make any legal action, but the most important thing is that it is clear that the internet must be distrusted.The time we are going to live in terms of digital scams is going to be terrible. Technology is going to make life easier, but a few people are going to use it for illicit purposes, and it will not have been easier for them to defraud than it is now with the tools available.
