Microsoft releases AI-assisted scams report for 2024

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Artificial intelligence (AI) is making it easier than ever to dupe people.

A new report by Microsoft says it took down almost 500 malicious web domains last year, and stopped 1.6 million bot signup attempts every hour.

However, it's getting harder and harder to spot, especially since a lot of people use AI legitimately to create real websites.

Here's what Microsoft's doing to tell the difference between someone using AI for a legitimate reason and someone creating a scam.

"We have 84 trillion signals from a threat standpoint that we process every single day, which gives us unique insights into what is happening. So, it starts with really getting this intelligence and understanding the patterns, so we can then protect against these frauds. We detect the bot sites and then we do a lot of work to take down the bot sites and given the intelligence that we have, we've also been able to help law enforcement with that intelligence so they can take actions, including imprisonment."

Vasu Jakkal, CVP Microsoft Security

The CBS News Confirmed Unit, a unit dedicated to exposing misinformation has tips to help you spot these scams:

• Websites highlighting a limited time deal may indicate a scam.
• Look for typos, especially in the URL as some of these sites may clone or try to mimic real companies.
• If you're on social media and click on a link taking you to a shopping site, close out of that page and go to the site independently.
• Check the reviews as similar wording and all five-stars are usually red flags.
• When you do buy something, pay with a credit card.