CYBERSECURITY MYTH- Phishing emails are easy to spot due to poor grammar and misspellings

This might have been true in the past, but computer technology is advancing fast, giving scammers easier ways to fool us that an email or text message is authentic. Lately, cybersecurity professionals have been warning about the easy use of AI by scammers to leverage their crimes. They cite several AI capabilities that improve scammers’ abilities to victimize people,

·         Hyper-personalized messages. AI can quickly collect personal data from social media profiles, work bios, and the dark web to personalize any email or text message. This makes the message feel personal and authoritative if you think it is coming from a friend, a coworker, or a business that you know and trust.

·         Perfect grammar and zero typos. AI can know the proper grammar and spelling for any language. This leverages the effectiveness and breadth of a scammer’s campaign.

·         Deepfake audio and video. AI can create audio and video that looks and sounds like any real person. Useful for phone calls that sound like they are from your boss or from your grandchild to convince you to act quickly.

·         Large-scale automated attacks. While scammers have long taken advantage of computer automation to conduct their scam campaigns, AI super sizes their capabilities to allow them to create customized messages faster, more creatively, and to more people.

·         Dangerous links in disguise. AI allows scammers to create more genuine looking fake webpages, making it more difficult to distinguish them from real webpages. Also, AI can create authentic looking URLs.

 

Probably the scariest capability of AI scams is deepfake audio and video. AI can efficiently and rapidly find voice samples or pictures to use for telephone calls or for video. And there is no more checking for six fingers on hands. AI video capability has become way better.

AI allows scammers to quickly and efficiently develop a more effective scam campaign without the scammer needing many high-tech skills, expanding the availability of “good quality” fake audio, video, emails, texts, and websites to more criminals.

While AI makes audio, video, emails, text messages, and web sites look more genuine, there are still red flags that you can look for.

·         Urgency. The scammer wants you to act quickly to make a payment or click on an included link or call a provided phone number in an emotional and urgent situation that the scammer has made up. You should be especially wary if the scammer discourages you from talking to someone else about the situation. cut off communication! If you feel the situation is genuine, talk to a friend or family member or contact the organization that the scammer claims to represent separately.

·         Payment. If you are required to make payment with crypto currency, wire transfers, gift cards, or peer-to-peer apps, cut off communications. These methods are like cash and funds paid through these methods are almost impossible to recover.

·         URL’s. Inspect URL’s of links and email addresses for genuineness. Small spelling mistakes or unusual domains such as “.xyz” instead of “.com” can be tip offs that the links will take you to a webpage that is controlled by the scammer.

Two suggestions,

Safe Word. Cybersecurity professionals are encouraging you to establish a safe word among your family, coworkers, close friends, elderly adults and caregivers, to help verify who you are talking to, especially in an emotional or urgent situation. A safe word can help a family in a grandparent scam. A safe word can help a business in an imposter scam when it looks like the boss is telling you to pay a large amount of money to a client or vendor using an account that is normally not used.

Be your own fact checker. A common rule of thumb is to not click on links or call phone numbers imbedded in emails or text messages, especially if they are suspicious. Contact the company, governmental agency, or organization from a trusted source. This can be the customer service number on the back of your credit card, an invoice or bill, or the website that you have looked up separately.

Scammers are rapidly adopting AI into their operations. The improvement of their fake websites, emails, text messages and audio/video increases the difficulty to detect fakes. This requires all of us to be more careful when we see these types of communication.

 

 

 

 

CBS News:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elder-scams-family-safe-word/

 

National Cybersecurity Alliance:

https://www.staysafeonline.org/articles/why-your-family-and-coworkers-need-a-safe-word-in-the-age-of-ai

 

The Seattle Times:

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/travel/ai-is-making-travel-scams-nearly-impossible-to-spot-heres-what-to-do/?utm_source=marketingcloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning+Brief+02-23-26_2_23_2026&utm_term=Active%20subscriber

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/ai-is-making-scams-hard-to-spot-heres-how-to-protect-yourself/

 

Identity Theft Resource Center:

https://www.idtheftcenter.org/post/ai-scams-harder-to-detect/

https://www.idtheftcenter.org/post/ai-scams-2025/

https://www.idtheftcenter.org/post/voice-cloning-scam/

https://www.idtheftcenter.org/podcast/weekly-breach-breakdown-ai-scams-cybersecurity-risks/

 

Norton:

https://us.norton.com/blog/online-scams/top-5-ai-and-deepfakes-2025

Ask Leo:

https://askleo.com/how-ai-is-revolutionizing-scams-can-we-no-longer-trust-our-eyes-or-ears/

 

 

CRYPTOCURRENCY KIOSKS- Another New Tool for Scammers

It is well known that scammers want to be “paid” with methods that are difficult to reverse. Some of the classics include wire transfers, peer-to-peer transactions, and gift cards. The suggestion of using any of these methods is often used as a red flag that the transaction is suspect and that you should stop communicating with the person who suggests them.

Scammers have added a new method to transfer money to them, cryptocurrency. Converting regular money to or from a cryptocurrency can be done in one of two ways,

·         Cryptocurrency exchange. A cryptocurrency exchange is a digital marketplace where you can buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies. You can send cryptocurrency to your personal cryptocurrency wallet or to another wallet through an exchange. Users need to create an account and deposit funds. They can also use a digital wallet to securely store their currency.

·         Cryptocurrency kiosks. A Cryptocurrency kiosk is a kiosk that looks similar to an ATM, that can be found in high traffic areas such as convenience stores, gas stations, or malls. You can use a crypto kiosk for quick access to your digital wallet, convert cash to a cryptocurrency, pay bills, or transfer funds to another person such as a family member or friend.  

Crypto kiosks are considered easier to operate than an exchange in some ways. All you have to do is walk up to the kiosk, like an ATM, insert cash or a debit card, then send the money on its way in a few steps. You do not have the complications of a crypto exchange. This makes it easier for scammers to instruct victims to send their money. And, once the money is in the scammer’s wallet, the scammer can easily and quickly launder the money so that it is impossible for the victim to recover their funds.

Crypto kiosks have been so successful for scammers that the FBI received 13,400 complaints through its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in 2025 amounting to $388 million in losses, a 23% increase in complaints and 58% increase in losses over 2024. Of those totals, Washington State had 391 complaints for losses of $8,341,828.

While there are legitimate uses for crypto kiosks, the Iowa Attorney General found that in 2025 at least 94% of transactions from at least two crypto kiosk providers (Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip) were fraudulent. In addition, money launderers, drug traffickers, and human traffickers have been reported using crypto kiosks to quickly and anonymously move and launder money.  

Scammers have been using the kiosks in all sorts of scams including government impersonation scams, tech support scams, romance and investment scams, and prize and employment scams. Once the scammer convinces the victim that they need to pay or “invest” their money, the scammer will send a QR code to the victim with the address of the scammer’s crypto wallet. The scammer instructs the victim to withdraw cash from their bank, then to go to a nearby crypto kiosk. Sometimes, the scammer will keep the victim on the phone throughout the process to give detailed instructions and to ensure that the victim complies with those instructions.

The use by scammers of crypto kiosks has caught the attention of state legislators throughout the U.S. Several states have passed legislation that regulates the kiosks for the protection of the public. The Washington State Legislature considered Senate bill 5280, “Protecting consumers of virtual currency kiosks.” The bill passed in the Senate but was sent back to committee by the House. If passed in the future, the bill would

            • Cap daily transactions at $2,000 per consumer.

            • Limit fees to $5 or 15% per transaction (whichever is greater).

            • Require paper receipts for all transactions.

            • Post clear, visible scam warnings on every kiosk.

Legislation like this attempts to give at least some protection for consumers. The limit to $2,000 in transactions per day tries to limit the potential loss that a consumer might experience if they are being scammed. Transaction fees at crypto kiosks tend to be higher than for crypto exchanges. The limit to the fees tries to prevent gouging by the kiosk owners. Paper receipts provide proof of the transactions in case a consumer needs to report a scam to police. Finally, scam warnings attempt to educate the public of the opportunity of scams and encourage kiosk users to slow down and be thoughtful about an upcoming transaction.

 

 

 

 

Federal Trade Commission:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2024/09/bitcoin-atms-payment-portal-scammers

 

 

Consumer Affairs:

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/crypto-kiosks-are-being-used-to-run-multiple-scams-052226.html

 

FBI:

https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2026/PSA260515-2

 

AARP:

https://www.aarp.org/states/washington/aarp-backs-legislative-action-to-stop-crypto-kiosk-scams/?msockid=1ccaa3490741631714d9b3fb03416160

https://www.aarp.org/advocacy/crypto-atm-fraud-protections/

 

 

SNOHOMISH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE- The Psychology of Scams

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has published the latest issue if its crime prevention newsletter “Partners in Crime Prevention.” This issue discusses the psychology of scams and how you can detect when you are being scammed. It also talks about where to report scams.

 

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

https://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/7482