AI-Enabled Fraud: How Worried Should We Be?

The most interesting event I’ve attended yet on AI and the law was a panel discussion on AI-enabled fraud – thank you to the London International Investigations and Asset Recovery Conference, taking place on 21-23 November 2023.

The panel session focused on the challenge of AI-enabled fraud and what can be done about it. How worried should we be? Pretty worried. But here's what can we do:

• Fraud prevention: 
  • Use verification tools to combat AI-powered circumvention of security and on-boarding protocols. If deep-fakes can fool voice- and facial recognition software, they present a security challenge (e.g. for systems such as telephone banking). 
  • Train your people not to be easy targets – fake emails from your CEO can now be fake voicemails, asking you to transfer funds.
• Asset recovery: 
  • Get experts in early to investigate. The challenge is to find out whodunnit. Follow the money, follow the metadata.
  • Utilise existing legal tools such as injunctions and third-party disclosure orders. The English courts will allow novel methods of serving proceedings, including via social media and crypto wallets.