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AI fuels more than half of cybercrime in Africa as scams surge – Interpol

africanews.com

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Re: AI fuels more than half of cybercrime in Africa as scams surge – Interpol

#11

Post by cyberax »

LocalH wrote: post #7
merelydev wrote: post #6

The main fuel is the internet , followed by mobile phones and social media. AI definitely makes the scams more believable, a Nigerian Prince can now easily forge documents. But at the same time AI is a double edged sword, it can be used for both offence and defense.

The main fuel is the "need" to have browsers that can execute code, coupled with the ability to transfer money via the internet. JavaScript was a mistake, e-commerce was a mistake, and so is everything else that came after. Let's ask Vint Cerf whether the web was meant to run logic, or just be a document format. I bet no matter what he answers, the world would be like the GIF pronunciation "I don't care if the origin…

The first Nigerian Prince scams started over email.

Re: AI fuels more than half of cybercrime in Africa as scams surge – Interpol

#12

Post by [deleted] »

bobajeff wrote: post #9
simonw wrote: post #5

Here's the report this story is about: https://www.interpol.int/Media/Documents/Publications/Cyberc... (PDF) Page 24 is where the AI stuff starts being described in detail.

>Access to this site was denied for security reasons. Please contact your network or system administrator Is what I see. Which makes sense I guess. Maybe just tell me how you got to the page?

[deleted]

Re: AI fuels more than half of cybercrime in Africa as scams surge – Interpol

#13

Post by spiderfarmer »

usernametaken29 wrote: post #3

Coincidentally it’s also the biggest scam in the west. Wait till the IPO and the inevitable 80% stock drop of OpenAI ….

If someone who is as unpopular as Elon the cringelord Musk can convince the markets that Tesla is worth its current stock price, I doubt the AI bubble will burst.

Re: AI fuels more than half of cybercrime in Africa as scams surge – Interpol

#14

Post by stingraycharles »

LocalH wrote: post #7
merelydev wrote: post #6

The main fuel is the internet , followed by mobile phones and social media. AI definitely makes the scams more believable, a Nigerian Prince can now easily forge documents. But at the same time AI is a double edged sword, it can be used for both offence and defense.

The main fuel is the "need" to have browsers that can execute code, coupled with the ability to transfer money via the internet. JavaScript was a mistake, e-commerce was a mistake, and so is everything else that came after. Let's ask Vint Cerf whether the web was meant to run logic, or just be a document format. I bet no matter what he answers, the world would be like the GIF pronunciation "I don't care if the origin…

> JavaScript was a mistake, e-commerce was a mistake, and so is everything else that came after.

That’s a really extreme take that lacks any nuance.

Might as well blame the OS as well for allowing any custom code to be executed.

Re: AI fuels more than half of cybercrime in Africa as scams surge – Interpol

#15

Post by gruez »

bobajeff wrote: post #9
simonw wrote: post #5

Here's the report this story is about: https://www.interpol.int/Media/Documents/Publications/Cyberc... (PDF) Page 24 is where the AI stuff starts being described in detail.

>Access to this site was denied for security reasons. Please contact your network or system administrator Is what I see. Which makes sense I guess. Maybe just tell me how you got to the page?

Works for me with VPN enabled. Might just be your IP is blocked.

Re: AI fuels more than half of cybercrime in Africa as scams surge – Interpol

#16

Post by cyanydeez »

merelydev wrote: post #6

The main fuel is the internet , followed by mobile phones and social media. AI definitely makes the scams more believable, a Nigerian Prince can now easily forge documents. But at the same time AI is a double edged sword, it can be used for both offence and defense.

the point though of a proper scam is to filter out the believables and find the guillibles.

You don't exactly want convincing evidence; you want a good story.

Re: AI fuels more than half of cybercrime in Africa as scams surge – Interpol

#17

Post by giancarlostoro »

gruez wrote: post #15
bobajeff wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Access to this site was denied for security reasons. Please contact your network or system administrator Is what I see. Which makes sense I guess. Maybe just tell me how you got to the page?

Works for me with VPN enabled. Might just be your IP is blocked.

Dunno first time I have ever been on that domain, I think the direct link to the PDF gets you blacklisted, I can navigate the rest of the site just fine.

The PDF is linked here, which you can get to this article from the front page:

https://www.interpol.int/News-and-Events/News/2026/INTERPOL-...

Re: AI fuels more than half of cybercrime in Africa as scams surge – Interpol

#18

Post by gruez »

rvz wrote: post #10

So not only AI is consuming more energy than than the entire bitcoin network is [0], it is also accounts for more than half of cybercrimes and digital scams in Africa. I don't think you can even dispute this. AI will be the one to cause the next financial crisis. [0] https://www.cell.com/joule/abstract/S2542-4351(25)00142-4

>AI will be the one to cause the next financial crisis.

So what's the implication here? It sounds like you want AI canceled or curtailed, and if you apply the same logic to the internet in the mid 90s, you would have correctly called out the dotcom bubble. Does that we mean we should have also canceled the internet?

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