AI scams have escalated. Is your wallet still safe?

From voice cloning to deepfakes, AI tools have become a “weapon” for scammers. The recent warnings from banking professionals are worth paying attention to: the old low-level typos and suspicious emails are outdated; now, scammers can generate high-quality fake bank websites at the click of a button and clone the voices of your family members to urge you to transfer money.

The two most heart-wrenching new tactics:

1. Clone Scam — Receiving an emergency call from a “family member” asking for a money transfer; or seeing a video of an investment product endorsed by a “celebrity”; or receiving a voice message from a “bank” asking you to transfer money. These may all be AI face and voice swaps.

2. Phishing Websites + Impersonating Banks — Fake websites look exactly like the real ones, enticing you to enter your account information. What’s worse, the scam group injects fake bank customer service phone numbers into search engine results, so when you Google the customer service number, you end up calling the scammers directly.

Self-Rescue Checklist: ❶ Anyone who asks you to transfer funds secretly is scamming — legitimate institutions would never do this. ❷ If you receive suspicious information, hang up the phone directly and proactively call the official number to confirm. ❸ Don't trust the customer service information from AI searches, directly check the number on the back of your bank card. ❹ Password manager + multi-factor authentication + automatic updates, a must-have trio ❺ Enable account monitoring and credit alerts, freeze immediately in case of anomalies.

To put it simply in one sentence: If a stranger asks for money, it's a scam, 99.9% of the time without exception.