LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)– Experts say false claims of artificial intelligence services are the latest tactic used for scamming business owners out of their money and information.
Artificial intelligence has revolutionized research, writing, art, and even assisted business owners with problem solving. But with the rising popularity of AI, scammers are quick to take advantage.
“A-I is new,” Chris Babin from Better Business Bureau said. “A lot of people don’t know about it, don’t know what the details are or the specifics of it because it’s complicated. So any time you have a situation like that it’s easy for scammers to try to blend in and cause confusion and take advantage of us.”
With the confusion of AI, scammers can use a variety of tactics to reach potential victims and claim their AI services can provide a great return on investment, when in reality it’s a scam meant to take advantage of you.
“You may get an email, phone call, text message, maybe you just see an ad on social media proposing that they’re a company that can provide AI services for a great price,” Babin said.
Agreeing to work with false AI services puts you at risk to lose any money you provide to them, or your business information could be stolen and at risk of identity theft.
“One business reported that they had paid an upfront fee of $144 dollars plus a processing fee. They didn’t actually receive anything in return,” Babin said. “They had trouble getting in touch with people at the company. They weren’t sure if services that were provided were actually being provided. Artificial intelligence can do probably a lot of things that we don’t even know of, but if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.”
The BBB also offers some tips to help you avoid these AI scams:
- Research before you hire — get to know a company before you do business with them
- Understand the services you need — don’t let someone you’ve never met sell you a service you’ve never heard of
- Watch out for aggressive sales tactics and far fetched promises
- Always safeguard your money
