Artificial intelligence isn’t replacing scams, but industrializing them, American Bankers Association EVP for Risk, Fraud and Cybersecurity Paul Benda told senators today.
Benda testified before the Senate Special Committee on Aging during a hearing on the growing threat of AI-enabled scams. He explained how generative AI has made scams more convincing, personalized and scalable while enabling criminals to exploit trusted identities and communications channels. He also shared several policy recommendations for mitigating the problem.
“A criminal can now create a convincing voice, video, photograph, text message, advertisement, or online persona with little technical skill and at very low cost,” Benda said in prepared remarks.
Benda shared how banks use AI, advanced analytics, employee training, consumer education and information sharing to better identify suspicious activity and protect consumers from increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes.
As for policy recommendations, Benda called for establishing a National Office for Scam and Fraud Prevention, strengthening telecommunications safeguards, improving fraud-related information sharing, enacting the SCAM Act and modernizing identity and authentication systems.
“Congress can help by establishing accountable national leadership, strengthening telecommunications safeguards, improving information sharing and funds recovery, supporting modern identity systems, and ensuring that every sector involved in the scam lifecycle is responsible for protecting the public,” Benda said.
