Fraudsters use AI chat tools to refine their techniques and expand their coercion tactics, according to a report by Sophos on its new findings on CryptoRom scams, designed to trick users of dating apps into making fake cryptocurrency investments
Sophos X-Ops made the discovery when a victim reached out, after receiving a lengthy message that was clearly partly written by an AI chat tool using a large language model (LLM). Additionally, the team also found out that scammers were able to sneak fake cryptocurrency investment apps into the official Apple App and Google Play stores.
“One of the main challenges for fraudsters with CryptoRom scams is carrying out convincing, sustained conversations of a romantic nature with targets; these conversations are mostly written by ‘keyboarders,’ who are primarily based out of Asia and have a language barrier. Using something like ChatGPT can be a more efficient and effective way to keep these conversations going, making the scams less labor intensive and more authentic. It also enables keyboarders to simultaneously engage with multiple victims at one time,” said Sean Gallagher, principal threat researcher, Sophos.
In 2022, investment fraud caused the highest losses of any scam reported by the public totaling US$3.31 billion in the US alone. Most of these are frauds involving cryptocurrency, CryptoRom fraud increasing 183% from 2021 to US$2.57 billion in reported losses last year.