Indians received nearly 12 fake or scam messages every day with almost 82% having clicked or fallen for these messages. 49% Indians were unable to recognise scam messages due to the lack of typos or errors as the use of AI has increased the scale and sophistication of phishing attacks.
While fake messages were found to use varying methods to lure unsuspecting users, most Indian consumers fell for fake jobs notifications or offers and bank alert messages, a study conducted by McAfee found.
The study further revealed that Indian consumers spend 1.8 hours a week reviewing, verifying or deciding whether a message sent through text, email, social media is real or fake. And 60% of Indian respondents said it has become harder to identify scam messages, attributing this trend to hackers using AI to make their scams more believable.
The study based on responses from 7,000 adults in seven countries, including India, further revealed that a new phishing site is created every 11 seconds, highlighting the need for a sustainable solution to the problem of scams.
“It’s not just the speed and volume, but the sophistication. Thanks to AI it can be incredibly difficult to know if that delivery text message or bank alert notification is real or not. So much so that 73% of Indians believe they have a better shot at solving the Rubik’s cube than identifying a scam message”, Roma Majumder, SVP of Product at McAfee said.
The problem of scammers making use of AI to launch phishing attacks is not new and has been reported since the availability of AI enabled tools was expanded. However, the study highlights the stress users are facing as AI has enabled scammers to increase the number and sophistication of the attacks.
source “The Hindu“
