“Dear shopkeeper, when can I pay the $20,000?”
It was the AI that prompted the payment.
A variety of fraudulent sites have appeared, including phishing sites that steal personal information and fake shopping sites that trick people into paying by pretending to buy products at low prices.
Under these circumstances, a number of fake shopping sites that exploited AI chat services were discovered one after another.
We followed the reality of the latest “AI fraud”.
(Reporting team that won't be fooled by digital media/Reporters Chiharu Kinukawa and Tomoki Uchida)
``Once you get used to it, it's easy to make profits.'' I was advised...
The person who had the first interaction with the AI was a 41-year-old man living in Okayama City.
This January, the man was approached by a woman on a matching app.
The man felt a sense of affinity with the profile, which said he lived in a neighboring prefecture, and they started communicating on LINE.
About a week later, a woman suggested he sign up for a site.
Man
: ``When I was listening to his personal story, he said, ``There is a shopping site that I started to make up for the deficit when sales decreased due to the coronavirus pandemic.'' Once you get used to it, you can easily make a profit, so I decided to open a shopping site as a side job.'' 'Why don't you try it?' I was told that the seller was acting as an intermediary for the operator of the shopping site, and that the site sells products in response to customer orders.''
I was invited to open a store on a shopping site operated by a Singaporean company that allows individuals to sell products.
When I searched for the site, I found that it is an e-commerce site that is popular in six countries and regions, mainly in Southeast Asia.
The man accessed the URL that the woman had sent him via LINE, and without question, he registered his address and account number for the opening procedures.
However, the URL that was sent was not a legitimate one, but a fake site.
I lost 4.7 million yen.
When the man registered as a vendor, he immediately received an order for a smartphone.
The woman told me that since the site operator purchases the products to be sold from wholesalers, the difference between the wholesale price and the selling price will be a profit by simply paying the wholesale price first.
When the man transferred the wholesale price of about 90,000 yen to the smartphone order, he made a profit of about 10,000 yen, and was relieved that he was actually making money.
After that, the man received orders one after another.
Orders gradually became more expensive, and some items included sets that included high-performance computers, desks, and chairs.
I paid more than 3 million yen in total as requested, but I was only able to receive the benefit once.
Man
: ``The first time went well, so I thought that if I waited for a while, I would receive the profits from the second time onwards. It was so bad that I couldn't go back."
When I started to feel worried that I would not receive the profits from the second time onwards, I received an order for a luxury watch worth 3.5 million yen, but I was already in a situation where I was having difficulty paying for it.
The man asked to cancel the order through a chat on the site, but the request was not accepted, and the woman urged him to cancel the order on LINE, prompting him to pay an additional 1 million yen.
The man also asked the operator to hand over the profits that should have been made so far in the site's chat.
Then...
"The store's credit has declined. I need to replenish my credit score before proceeding with the withdrawal process." "
Dear store owner, when can I pay the $20,000 replenishment store credit?" A
message like this is sent. It has been.
They also asked me to pay an additional 3 million yen in Japanese yen.
The man sent a message saying that he had consulted the police, but the management's response was simply to ask for payment, asking, ``Can the police pay?''
It took about two weeks after I met the woman until I contacted the police.
A total of 4.7 million yen was paid during this period.
Man
: ``When I realized that I might have been a victim, I was speechless, and I thought there was nothing I could do about it.When I tried to purchase products from other people, I couldn't, and it was clear that this site was fake.'' Now I don't think I'll get back the money I paid.When the money came up, I feel like I could have talked to those around me and stopped if I had felt even the slightest bit suspicious.''
In response to an interview with NHK, the company that operates the legitimate site says that the site is a fake site and is considering legal action.
A detailed analysis of the contents of the chat...
The person I was chatting with thought the man was from the management side.
Turns out it was actually an AI.
When we asked a security company to conduct a detailed analysis of this fake site, we discovered that the chat service was run by AI.
AI supports 20 languages.
The system was designed to learn in advance the responses intended by site operators who are believed to be committing fraud, and automatically respond to questions in text.
According to the security company, such a sophisticated fraudulent site incorporating an AI chat service has never been seen before.
When we analyzed the past history of the AI's responses, we found evidence that other people besides the man had communicated in Japanese on this chat service in the past.
(Question) "What should I do?"
(AI) "I need to restore 4 credit points. Please pay $20,000."
Upon further investigation, I found over a dozen other sites that incorporated this AI chat service.
Most of them were pretending to be overseas e-commerce sites, such as American mail order sites, but there were also ones pretending to be Japanese Rakuten shopping sites.
They all have very similar structures, appear to have been created using the same method, and contain pages for sellers, so they are thought to be used for similar scams.
Security - Macnica's Yuji Kaketani: ``
I think it's safe to say that a new type of fake site has appeared.AI is being used as a partner in fraud, or rather, it returns answers from the perspective of the fraudster.'' I was very surprised. If AI becomes easier to implement and Japanese becomes less unnatural and other features, it may become even more difficult to spot fake sites."
AI technology abuse causes damage even in audio and video
Cyber crimes such as fraud that exploit AI technology are a growing concern around the world.
There have also been cases where people have been scammed out of money by using sophisticated fake audio and videos that are indistinguishable from the real thing.
Last year in the United States, there was an incident in which someone used AI to synthesize the voice of a crying daughter crying, ``I've been kidnapped, please help me,'' and then played it over the phone to her mother, demanding a ransom.
It is believed that he committed the crime after finding the audio on SNS and identifying his address, phone number, and family relationships.
Earlier this year, an accountant at a Hong Kong company was lured into a deepfake video conference with his boss and colleagues, and was told that he needed to send money, amounting to HK$200 million, or approximately ¥3.8 billion in Japanese yen. It is reported that he was defrauded.
In order not to be fooled
Fraud techniques are evolving by exploiting AI technology, but in reality, it is humans who maliciously try to deceive.
In this case as well, humans were skillfully soliciting people with sweet words through various communication methods such as matching apps and LINE.
Experts point out that in order to avoid being scammed, it's important to stay calm and check, just as you would in the past when dealing with scams.
▽The first thing you should be suspicious of when money comes up is things like
``You're guaranteed to make money.'' Concerning the scam seen in this case, which calls for a side job, the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan says, ````Always'' and ``certainly'' are lies,'' and ````Have fun.'' "'Easy' is a lie," he warns.
▽Looking at the user's point of view
The newly discovered fake site was unnatural when you look at the details, such as not being able to make a payment even after selecting and purchasing a product.
▽Actually check by phone
The contact information and phone number on the site were blank.
It is important to put yourself in the shoes of the person who is actually purchasing the product, and check the reputation online, and also to check the product not only through chat, but also over the phone.
▽Consult with a consumer affairs center or the police
If you feel even the slightest bit suspicious, consult the consumer hotline "188" connected to a nearby consumer affairs center or the police.
You will be contacted by an AI claiming to be a friend you trust, and will offer you a side job or investment.
Even if such a day comes, take a breath and calm down.
This mindset is the most important thing.
NHK News Post
#Don't be fooled digitally
The reporting team is looking for your experiences and opinions on how to avoid being fooled.