Don’t Get Ham Scammed By A.I.

As each year ends and new one begins, my thoughts often turn to one of my mentors, Daniel R. Lee aka Danny Lee, the owner of WXRT, The Score and several non-radio businesses. Danny was born on January 2nd and passed away on Christmas Day. Besides being a great person and a serial entrepreneur, Danny was in on new technology faster than anyone I knew. Among the firsts that he brought to our stations were a microwave oven, a bag cell phone and the first PC and Macintosh computers I’d ever seen.

Danny’s love for technology and gadgets must have rubbed-off on me. As the General Manager of XRT, I helped build Chicago’s first commercial radio station website. We were also very early in on the streaming game. I got some advice from a person who owned a company called Broadcast.com. His name was Mark Cuban. I wonder what ever happened to him.  

Even though I’m retired from Radio, I still keep up with technology. January is fun because that's when the Consumer Electronics Show happens. It's when all the latest gadgets that we never knew we needed get unveiled. This year, it's all about Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). One of those devices getting a lot of attention is the Rabbit R1. It's being touted as the first Artificial Intelligence pocket companion. I'm not exactly sure what it will do for me, but I ordered one today. When I get it in a few weeks, I'll write about how much I need it (or not). It is amazing that in just over a year, A.I. has become number one on the emerging trends charts. It's already having a major effect on how we view things on TV, over the Internet and who we talk to on cell phones.

I know that whenever there’s new technology, someone who wants to take your money won’t be far away. Scamming and the Internet go hand-in-hand. The first scam that I can remember was back in May of 1990. It was called "I Love You”. It basically stole your contacts, sent that same I Love You message to them and off it went on a World Wide Web journey. While around 45 million users got the virus, looking back now, it could have been a lot worse. Today, scammers are far more malicious. A Federal Trade Commission report claims that over 8.8 billion dollars was lost to Internet fraud in 2022. And A.I. is making it easier than ever for scammers to spread their love. So, it’s up to us to be vigilant to make sure that we won’t get fooled again.

I like to play around with scammers. I figure if I can waste their time, that time won’t be spent trying to steal from someone else. One of the latest scams is called "Sha Zhu Pan" or "Pig Butchering”. A.I. is making it easier than ever to pull it off. It targets users of social media, online dating services and seemingly innocent text messages. I’ve run into several on Facebook and on so-called "mistaken” texts where someone claims that they texted to the wrong number (mine). These scams started in China and moved to other parts of Asia, The Middle East and West Africa. The reason they are called Pig Butchering is that they generally take a longer period of time to pull-off. It's like fattening-up the pig and then taking it to slaughter. The scammer often uses A.I. generated scripts and even audio/video in order to befriend the victim - sometimes romantically. Once "fattened”, the scammer will talk about how much money they’ve made in Bitcoin or from some government or charity program.

I’ve interacted with several butchers. Some will get to the point very quickly. Those are usually the ones who tell you about the money they've received from Health and Human Services or from some Foundation. They will give you a link to a person who will help you get the "grant”. That person will either try to steal your social security or bank numbers or to have you pay an upfront tax on your "winnings”. The other longer tail scam involves romance or friendship. It can take weeks or even months to get to the point (stealing your money). This one often involves the scammer having stolen a Facebook or Instagram profile. They use that profile to write about their expertise in cryptocurrency and how much they’ve made for other people. You’ll often see fake endorsements. At some point, they will offer you an opportunity to make money via Crypto. It starts with a low figure going into a fake Bitcoin wallet. Once they’ve shown you how much money you’ve "made" with small investments, they go for the slaughter and then disappear with all the money you’ve "invested”.

As I said, I’ve interacted with several of these scammers. Once outed, I will try to have an adult conversation. A couple of them told me that they were being held against their will in Dubai and India, working up to 15 hours a day. They thought they were getting a real call-center job, but their employer took their passport, and they could not leave until they scammed a certain amount. Others told me that they have no other way to make money and that Westerners don’t understand how hard it is to get a legitimate job in a place like Lagos. My response is that's not an excuse. Americans are not rich, ignorant jerks as many scammers are led to believe. We are hard-working people who are just trying to earn a living to support our families. I tell them that some even commit suicide after losing their lifesavings. I'm probably naive but I believe that some of these scammers are basically good people who are trapped in a bad situation. Others are just plain criminals.

The bottom line is that it used to be easier to catch these crimes due to the scammer’s poor use of the English language and grammar. However, with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, it’s getting harder and harder to know if that Facebook message is really from your friend or from an Internet cafe in Nigeria. That’s why it’s vital that you keep your guard up at all times. Never give out any personal information, bank account numbers or send cash or gift cards. If something looks too good to be true, it’s because it’s false. I know it’s easy to think, you’re too smart to get caught by one of these scams. But 8.8 billion dollars didn’t just come from the dumber of us. It can happen to anyone. For those who remember "Hill Street Blues”, as Sergeant Phil Esterhaus used to say before morning roll call ended,