Postal Service Warns of AI-Powered Scams
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is warning that criminals are using artificial intelligence to make old scams seem more realistic. The alert, issued for National Consumer Protection Week, highlights how AI tools can create more convincing phishing emails, text messages, and other fraudulent communications, posing a greater threat to consumers.
Artificial intelligence is supercharging long-running scams, allowing criminals to craft more believable and personalized attacks. Scammers are leveraging AI for everything from generating hyper-realistic phishing emails to cloning voices for urgent financial requests. This marks a significant evolution from traditional scams that were often identifiable by poor grammar or generic messaging. One of the most alarming new tactics is AI voice cloning, where fraudsters can mimic the voice of a loved one in distress. Criminals can create a convincing audio deepfake with just a small audio sample, often sourced from social media, to then call family members and fraudulently ask for money for fake emergencies like accidents or kidnappings. The use of generative AI has led to a massive increase in phishing emails, with one report noting a 1,265% surge in malicious emails since the fourth quarter of 2022. These AI-generated emails are harder to detect because they are grammatically correct, personalized, and can bypass traditional spam filters by varying their structure and tone. The financial toll of these scams is staggering, with Americans losing an estimated $12.5 billion to technology-driven fraud in 2024, a 25% increase from the previous year. Phishing attacks alone cost organizations an average of $4.8 million per breach. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) gets involved because many of these scams, even if initiated online, will involve sending money or fraudulent documents through the mail. The agency warns consumers to be wary of unexpected requests for money, even if they appear to come from a trusted source. A common scheme involves "smishing," or SMS phishing, where scammers send text messages impersonating the USPS about a package delay, tricking victims into clicking a malicious link to steal personal and financial information. The USPS has clarified that it will never text customers to ask for extra payment for package delivery. To protect against these advanced scams, officials recommend hanging up on suspicious calls and independently verifying the situation by contacting the person or agency directly through a known number or website. For suspicious texts or emails, the advice is to never click on links and to report the incident to the USPIS.
