Are you tired of scammers calling your phone, trying to trick you into giving away your hard-earned money?
If so, you’re not alone.
Many people are fed up with the constant barrage of fraudulent calls and messages. But what if you could fight back in a fun and creative way? Enter the world of scambaiting, where people waste scammers’ time and resources instead of falling for their tricks.
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Computer-generated AI-grandma taking on scammers. (Virgin Media O2)
What is scambaiting?
Scambaiting is when someone interacts with a scammer to waste their time and resources. Some of these online experiences are entertaining and even hilarious to watch. Instead of falling for their sneaky tricks, scambaiters play along, knowing it’s a scam, and take on the role of a potential victim to keep the scammers busy. But get this — there’s now some new technology to do the scambaiting for you.
A woman frustrated by a call from a scammer. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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Why scambaiting matters
So, why should we care about scambaiting? This creative strategy offers several compelling benefits. First and foremost, it effectively wastes scammers’ time. Every minute they spend on the phone with Daisy is a minute they can’t use to target real victims. By keeping them occupied, we can potentially prevent them from scamming someone else.
In addition to wasting time, scambaiting raises awareness about common scams. It serves as an educational tool, helping others recognize and avoid falling prey to similar tactics. The more people understand how these scams operate, the less likely they are to become victims. Moreover, watching scammers get flustered sheds light on the lengths these criminals will go to and highlights the importance of staying vigilant against their schemes.
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A woman on a phone call with a scammer. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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The AI-powered grandma taking on scammers
“Hello there! I’m just trying to understand how this prize works. Can you explain it again? I’m not as tech-savvy as I used to be?”
That’s Daisy, an artificial intelligence-powered grandma developed by Virgin Media O2 to interact with scammers. When a scam call comes in, Daisy automatically answers and engages the caller in conversation, wasting their time. With her friendly personality and quick thinking, she keeps them on the line while gathering useful information about their tactics. Daisy combines various AI models that work together to listen and respond to fraudulent calls instantaneously. She’s so lifelike that she has successfully kept numerous fraudsters on calls for 40 minutes at a time. By tricking the criminals into thinking they were defrauding a real person and playing on scammers’ biases about older people, Daisy has prevented them from targeting real victims.
Now, before you get too excited, Daisy is currently only available for customers of Virgin Media O2 in the U.K., but other companies in the U.S. are beginning to offer similar AI-driven solutions. For instance, Apate.ai has developed AI.Callee, which engages scammers in real-time conversations across various channels. Another U.S. company, Scamnetic, has launched an AI-based scam-detection solution that can be integrated into enterprise platforms to protect consumers from various types of scams.
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Computer-generated AI-grandma taking on scammers. (Virgin Media O2)
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Protecting yourself from robocall scams
While scambaiting can be a fun way to fight back against scams, the best defense is simply not picking up and answering scam calls in the first place. One effective strategy is to consider investing in personal data removal services that wipe your information from public databases on the internet. By reducing your digital footprint, you can make it more difficult for scammers to contact you in the first place. While no service promises to remove all your data from the internet, having a removal service is great if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process of removing your information from hundreds of sites continuously over a longer period of time.
Check out my top picks for data removal services here.
Kurt’s key takeaways
The introduction of AI-powered scambaiters like Daisy marks a new era in the fight against fraud. While it’s entertaining to imagine scammers being outwitted by a chatty AI grandma, it’s important to remember that the ultimate goal is to protect vulnerable individuals from falling victim to these schemes. As technology evolves, so do the tactics of scammers, making it crucial for everyone to stay informed and vigilant. Whether it’s Daisy keeping scammers occupied or individuals
