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

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81–90 of 264 posts

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

#81

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.

+1 for the word Cringelord. I have taken this and shall use it on my journeys.

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

#82
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current administration is giving them a run for the money. Might come out ahead in regards regards to corruption too. Number one.

I think what the Trump admin is doing is horribly corrupt and I hope the lot of them go to jail for that and other things, but in relative terms what Trump is doing is still less corrupt than what happens in many poor countries.

> ...but in relative terms what Trump is doing is still less corrupt than what happens in many poor countries.

In relative terms?

So what you're saying is that Trump and his family grifting Americans for a couple billion dollars so far in his second term is better than, say, Hun Sen and his family grifting Cambodians for somewhere between $500 million and $4 billion over ~40 years because the US economy is so much bigger than Cambodia's?

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

#83

Got a scam call yesterday morning. An American-ish accent, but quite rusty, I suspected they were using an AI voice changer. They said "Am I speaking to ?". I did not answer that and instead asked what company they were calling from, then they immediately hung up. I guess people who ask that initial question are disqualified for their scam, they're looking for more gullible folks.

I simply don't answer calls from unknown numbers. I feel like it's my right as a grown-up.

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

#84
post #25

Here's an amazing study from Microsoft which I recall from back in the day (PDF): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/... Edit: Recalled -> Recall

This paper is the one and only source for every claim from the past 10 years that "scammers make mistakes in scams on purpose." Crucially, no actual scammer or former scammer or even acquaintance of a former scammer has ever corroborated it. The paper itself is pure speculation.

If anything I think that paper serves best as a reminder that just because an idea is clever and logical, that doesn't necessarily mean it's true.[1]

[1] As another example, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Gandhi

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

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really depends on how you define corruption. Rich countries have created a definition that makes it a poor country thing, conveniently ignoring the type of corruption that is institutionalized (and in some cases even legalized) in many rich countries.

The point of institutionalizing corruption is to reduce competition from competing corruption entities. Which is bad but not as bad as an endemically corrupt society. I think it can be true that we have in effect far more corruption in the west than what is readily recognized at the same time that it’s true that we have less corruption than most other countries.

> The point of institutionalizing corruption is to reduce competition from competing corruption entities. Which is bad but not as bad as an endemically corrupt society.

Do you even read what you write? If you institutionalize corruption to reduce competition between different corrupt factions, you end up with a not endemically corrupt society?

Here's what it actually means: if you institutionalize corruption, you end up with an endemically corrupt society that is incapable of even recognizing corruption for what it is.

> ...at the same time that it’s true that we have less corruption than most other countries.

No, the corruption is just more sophisticated so that we can pretend it isn't corruption. Just look at campaign finance. In many ways, it's even more insidious than companies handing over paper bags full of bribe money to politicians and government officials.

The amounts are bigger, the number of people who get a piece of the action is great and it's all "legal" so the corruption is more durable. And, again, everyone gets to pretend that it's not corruption.

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

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any way to help the elderly navigate this shift? "Ignore anyone asking you for money unless you know them and they do it in-person."

That is completely impractical for most people.

Why?

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

#87
post #11
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Snail mail scams like that were common for decades prior. My mates dad nearly fell for one once.

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

#88
post #76
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Parent’s helpfully defining the Britishisms for HN readers)

As a British person I find this to be very very British.

I like them, I just didn't understand them and figured I'd educate the crowd so we can all join in and call things tosh. Posh = fancy, tosh = bad.

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

#89
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why not use AI to detect and avoid scams? Why would the scammer go thru your detector?

How would the scammer communicate with you? Phone? The network could spot sources exhibiting robocall patterns. AI could analyze live conversations and warn the recipient on certain patterns. Instant messaging? There's spam and abuse screening built into most IMs already. AI could [locally/privately] analyze conversations. Email? Ditto; analyze conversations, a bit deeper than basic junk mail filters already do.

I got lots of iMessage spam try to get me to contact them via WhatsApp, signal or their own website.

Unless you ban mentioning other IM platform or communication channel, they will always try to get you on something less monitored

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

#90
post #76
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Parent’s helpfully defining the Britishisms for HN readers)

As a British person I find this to be very very British.

Sorry were they Englishisms or something, almost clarified I didn’t know!
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