AI Bank Transaction Fraud
Bank transaction fraud powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become increasingly sophisticated and harder to detect. Through the use of AI, cybercriminals can scour the internet for impending bank transactions. In real estate bank transaction fraud, for example, cybercriminals have developed AI search engines that will now look for impending real estate title changes, deposits into impound accounts, and other related transactions. Once these are identified, the cybercriminals will use templates that they have developed to look like standard banking instructions. They will research and identify the banks and real estate title companies, the individuals involved in the transaction, the buyers and sellers, the real estate agents, the title company personnel, etc. Essentially, they will build a transaction playbook, listing all of the stakeholders. At execution time, the buyer will receive an email from the cybercriminal instructing them on a change, a small administrative change, or a common change, notifying them of a change in the recipient’s routing number and bank account. These instructions are often clouded in administrative mumbo-jumbo bureaucratic language that means nothing but looks official. There is a contact phone number to call if there are any questions that will end at the cybercriminals help desk, and as is always the case, there is an immediate call to action.
Two common elements of any kind of scam are trust and urgency. This is true in romance fraud, where the mysterious soul mate is now in crisis and needs to borrow an immediate infusion of cash. Investment fraud is the same; there is this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in a new kind of crypto-currency, one that is guaranteed to dominate the crypto-universe. In real estate transactions, time is often the essence; if the time schedules are not met, the deal falls through. So, in the scam email, there is an immediate need to transfer the money. Essentially, the goal in all cases is to manufacture a crisis and to ensure the way out of the crisis is the action of the victim. The crisis and the need for immediate action do not give time for consideration or for checking.
One of the advantages of AI is its ability to scour the world for information. With a focus on financial transactions and real estate sales being only one of them, there is the ability to discover and filter these thousands of daily transactions to a few. In a strange way, there has to be an appreciation of the research and sophistication of these scams. The templates, the official look of the email, the use of the actual names and email, and the physical addresses of the stakeholders are impressive, considering these are most likely constructed a continent away.
Just as once, the internet was seen as the pathway to world peace and security. After all, it would allow for the universal sharing of information and connections and improve relationships; it is, in fact, the proverbial double-edged sword. It cuts both ways, for good and bad. AI is the same. On the battleground of cybersecurity, there is the leapfrog effect. On one side are the cybercriminals, who develop exploits for system vulnerabilities; on the other side is the cyber defense that counteracts to reduce vulnerabilities and eliminate the threats. Often, the greatest vulnerability is the human in the loop. This is not a technical process. There is no system administration control that can be turned on or turned off to prevent a person from following the directions in a fraudulent email. The key is user awareness and a high degree of skepticism of anything on the internet.
The use of AI and its ability to customize correspondence is an extremely powerful tool. It is the foundation for researching the world of transactions and finding the transactions that have the greatest potential for success. However, AI is a tool that does not do all. The effort, on behalf of the criminals, is not trivial when considering they are working hundreds of these transactions supported by thousands of criminals; it is a professional effort directed to that human in the loop.
The best defense in all cyber interactions is always going to be a healthy bit of skepticism. Another point is to recognize the alarm bell of caution when approached with a crisis, the immediate call to action in any form of banking transaction. Another point is to not call the phone number provided in the message, email, or whatever to verify the transaction. Use your own resources and go to the original points of contact; again, not trusting is a good thing. Lastly, the FBI Recovery Asset Team (RAT) can stop or claw back funds if alerted in time. If there is a bank transaction error, and if the FBI RAT is notified in time, the transfer of funds can be stopped.
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