logo
AI is perfecting scam emails, making phishing hard to catch

AI is perfecting scam emails, making phishing hard to catch

Axios27-05-2025
AI chatbots have made scam emails harder to spot and the tells we've all been trained to look for — clunky grammar, weird phrasing — utterly useless.
Why it matters: Scammers are raking in more than ever from basic email and impersonation schemes. Last year, the FBI estimates, they made off with a whopping $16.6 billion.
Thwarting AI-written scams will require a new playbook that leans more on users verifying messages and companies detecting scams before they hit inboxes, experts say.
The big picture: ChatGPT and other chatbots are helping non-English-speaking scammers write typo-free messages that closely mimic trusted senders.
Before, scammers relied on clunky tools like Google Translate, which often were too literal in their translations and couldn't capture grammar and tone.
Now, AI can write fluently in most languages, making malicious messages far harder to flag.
What they're saying:"The idea that you're going to train people to not open [emails] that look fishy isn't going to work for anything anymore," Chester Wisniewski, global field CISO at Sophos, told Axios.
"Real messages have some grammatical errors because people are bad at writing," he added. "ChatGPT never gets it wrong."
The big picture: Scammers are now training AI tools on real marketing emails from banks, retailers and service providers, Rachel Tobac, an ethical hacker and CEO of SocialProof Security, told Axios.
"They even sound like they are in the voice of who you're used to working with," Tobac said.
Tobac said one Icelandic client who had never before worried about employees falling for phishing emails was now concerned.
"Previously, they've been so safe because only 350,000 people comfortably speak Icelandic," she said. "Now, it's a totally new paradigm for everybody."
Threat level: Beyond grammar, the real danger lies in how these tools scale precision and speed, Mike Britton, CISO at Abnormal Security, told Axios.
Within minutes, scammers can use chatbots to create dossiers about the sales teams at every Fortune 500 company and then use those findings to write customized, believable emails, Britton said.
Attackers now also embed themselves into existing email threads using lookalike domains, making their messages nearly indistinguishable from legitimate ones, he added.
"Our brain plays tricks on us," Britton said. "If the domain has a W in it, and I'm a bad guy, and I set up a domain with two Vs, your brain is going to autocorrect."
Yes, but: Spotting scam emails isn't impossible. In Tobac's red team work, she typically gets caught when:
Someone practices what she calls polite paranoia, or when they text or call the organization or person being impersonated to confirm if they sent a suspicious message.
A target uses a password manager and has complex, long passwords.
They have multifactor authentication enabled.
What to watch: Britton warned that low-cost generative AI tools for deepfakes and voice clones could soon take phishing to new extremes.
"It's going to get to the point where we all have to have safe words, and you and I get on a Zoom and we have to have our secret pre-shared key," Britton said. "It's going to be here before you know it."
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Why AI is causing summer electricity bills to soar
Why AI is causing summer electricity bills to soar

Fox News

time13 minutes ago

  • Fox News

Why AI is causing summer electricity bills to soar

If your electricity bill seems shockingly high, you're not imagining it. A big part of the spike is being driven by rising artificial intelligence electricity demand. PJM Interconnection, the largest power grid operator in the United States, says electricity usage is climbing sharply this summer. Some areas may see bills increase by as much as 20%. One of the main drivers behind this trend is the growing power consumption from data centers that support AI systems like ChatGPT and other generative tools. Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide — free when you join my PJM supplies electricity to 67 million customers across 13 states: Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia. It manages a vast and complex network of power distribution. This summer, the grid is showing signs of strain. In just the past year, data centers running AI have started using much more electricity. These centers can consume up to 30 times more power than traditional data centers. Most of them are connected to the same grid that serves homes and businesses, which means the cost of that power growth is shared by everyone. AI took off in 2023 when tools like ChatGPT became widely adopted. Since then, companies have been racing to build more infrastructure to keep up. PJM's territory now has the largest number of data centers in the world. Between 2024 and 2025, electricity demand from AI and data centers in the PJM region contributed to a $9 billion increase in power costs. PJM expects peak usage this summer to reach over 154,000 megawatts, with the potential to exceed all-time records during heat waves or emergencies. While demand is rising quickly, the power supply is not keeping up with the pace. Many fossil fuel plants are shutting down due to state regulations, aging infrastructure or market conditions. More than 9,000 megawatts of coal capacity will retire or convert to gas in 2025 alone. Clean energy options like wind and solar are often the cheapest ways to add new power, but developers are struggling with permitting delays, rising costs and a loss of federal incentives. For example, the 30% federal solar tax credit for homeowners will end after 2025. That change is already slowing down new installations. Even if you never use AI tools yourself, you are still likely paying for their growth. The cost of expanding the data center's power supply is spread across all grid users, including regular households. PJM customers have been warned to expect electric bills to increase by $25 or more per month. Commercial users may see prices climb nearly 30%. To help prevent rolling blackouts, PJM is rolling out demand response programs that pay large businesses to temporarily reduce their electricity use during periods of extreme demand. Still, if electricity usage exceeds 166,000 megawatts, some regions may not have enough reserve power to maintain reliability. Looking for ways to lower your electricity bill as prices surge? Here are some effective tips you can start using today: For more tips and expert advice, check out the 7 best ways to save money on your electricity bill AI electricity demand is growing faster than the grid can handle. As more data centers come online to power tools like ChatGPT, the strain is showing up on your utility bill. Without major upgrades to infrastructure or smarter energy policy, prices could keep climbing. The tech may be smart, but the cost of keeping it running is getting harder for everyone else to ignore. Have your electricity bills gone up recently? Let us know by writing us at Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide — free when you join my Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.

China Premier Warns of AI ‘Monopoly' as US Effort Quickens
China Premier Warns of AI ‘Monopoly' as US Effort Quickens

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

China Premier Warns of AI ‘Monopoly' as US Effort Quickens

(Bloomberg) — China will spearhead the creation of an international organization to jointly develop AI, the country's premier said, seeking to ensure that world-changing technology doesn't become the province of just a few nations or companies. Trump Awards $1.26 Billion Contract to Build Biggest Immigrant Detention Center in US The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Can This Bridge Ease the Troubled US-Canadian Relationship? Trump Administration Sues NYC Over Sanctuary City Policy Artificial intelligence harbors risks from widespread job losses to economic upheaval that require nations to work together to address, Premier Li Qiang told the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Saturday. That means more international exchanges, Beijing's No. 2 official said during China's most important annual technology summit. Li didn't name any countries in his short address to kick off the event. But Chinese executives and officials have taken aim at Washington's efforts to curtail the Asian country's tech sector, including by slapping restrictions on the export of Nvidia Corp. chips crucial to AI development. On Saturday, Li acknowledged a shortage of semiconductors was a major bottleneck, but reaffirmed President Xi Jinping's call to establish policies to propel Beijing's ambitions. The government will now help create a body — loosely translated as the World AI Cooperation Organization — through which countries can share insights and talent. 'Currently, key resources and capabilities are concentrated in a few countries and a few enterprises. If we engage in technological monopoly, controls and restrictions, AI will become an exclusive game for a small number of countries and enterprises,' Li told hundreds of delegates huddled at the conference venue on the banks of Shanghai's iconic Huangpu river. China and the US are locked in a race to develop a technology with the potential to turbocharge economies and — over the long run — tip the balance of geopolitical power. This week, US President Donald Trump signed executive orders to loosen regulations and expand energy supplies for data centers — a call to arms to ensure companies like OpenAI and Google help safeguard America's lead in the post-ChatGPT era. At the same time, the breakout success of DeepSeek has inspired Chinese tech leaders and startups to accelerate research and roll out products such as open-sourced models, robots and AI agents. That parade of technology represents Chinese developers' efforts to set world standards and benchmarks, and grab a bigger slice of the global market. They also dovetail with Beijing's broader efforts to ensure self-reliance on critical technologies in the face of tensions between the world's economic superpowers. The weekend conference in Shanghai — gathering star founders, Beijing officials and deep-pocketed financiers by the thousands — is designed to catalyze that movement. The event, which has featured Elon Musk and Jack Ma in years past, was launched in 2018 to showcase China's cutting-edge technology. This year's attendance may hit a record because it's taking place at a critical juncture in the global race to lead the development of generative AI. It's already drawn some notable figures: Nobel Prize laureate Geoffrey Hinton and former Google chief Eric Schmidt were among industry heavyweights who met Shanghai party boss Chen Jining on Thursday, before they were due to speak at the conference. Going forward, China will seek to propel AI development in the Global South, Li said, referring to a loose gathering that includes Brazil and Africa. Schmidt later echoed Li's call for nations to work together — particularly China and the US. 'The upsides are phenomenal,' he told delegates. 'As the largest and most significant economic entities in the world, the United States and China should collaborate on these issues,' he said. 'We have a vested interest to keep the world stable, keep the world not at war, to keep things peaceful, to make sure we have human control of these tools.' —With assistance from Jing Li and Charlie Zhu. (Updates with Schmidt's comments from the 11th paragraph.) Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash Confessions of a Laptop Farmer: How an American Helped North Korea's Wild Remote Worker Scheme It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store