How AI Scams Target People Who Don't Know What to Look For

AI scams can pair a person who doesn't exist with an emotional story and a request for money. Someone unfamiliar with AI-generated content may accept the picture as proof. For service business owners, the practical response is to verify appeals before sharing them and make your own messages easy for customers to check.

How a fake person can make an appeal feel real

On The Friday Flush, host Eric Yim, co-founder of Protocol, describes people generating AI content depicting disabilities and using it to create fundraisers for fake people. He also raises the risk of tricking people who are “less AI native,” meaning people less familiar with AI and what it can produce.

The problem starts when a believable image stands in for evidence. A person sees someone apparently in need, reads a moving story, and feels a reason to help. But the image doesn't establish that the person exists, that the story happened, or that the money will reach them.

A real fundraising platform's name doesn't verify every appeal associated with it, either. Check the organizer and destination separately rather than relying on a familiar name in a post.

Guest Brook Slagle, an email designer for health brands, puts the broader point plainly: “Con men have been throughout history.” AI gives that familiar deception another way to present itself.

What to check before your business shares a fundraiser

A service business may want to help a neighbor or share a community appeal. Before lending your business name to it, treat verification as a separate step from deciding whether the story deserves sympathy.

• Check who's organizing it. Look for a person or organization you can contact independently of the message.
• Confirm the story outside the post. If it claims a connection to someone you know, ask that person through contact details you already have.
• Check where the money goes. Read the destination page and payment details. Don't assume the image and the payment recipient are connected.
• Pause if you can't verify it. You don't need to prove an appeal is fraudulent before deciding not to share it.

A strange-looking image can be a reason to investigate. A convincing-looking image still isn't proof. Trying to spot visual mistakes alone leaves the main question unanswered: who is behind this request?

Help people check without making them feel foolish

Slagle argues that people who understand these tools have a responsibility to help those less able to protect themselves. That's useful guidance for an owner talking with staff, customers, or family.

Keep the conversation specific. Ask what the message wants them to do, who sent it, and how they could confirm it without using the link in that message. Avoid turning the conversation into a test of whether they're good at spotting AI.

For staff, consider practicing with a clearly labeled example of a suspicious appeal. Walk through how to check it, then revisit that process later. The goal is a habit people remember when a real request arrives.

Make your own customer messages easy to verify

The same trust problem affects legitimate service businesses. A customer who hesitates over a payment request may be trying to protect themselves.

As a general practice, keep your business name and contact details consistent across your website and customer messages. When sending an unexpected request for money or sensitive information, give customers a way to confirm it through a contact method they already know.

If someone questions a message, help them verify it without pressure. Teaching people to pause only works if your business gives them room to do that.

This article draws on a conversation from The Friday Flush. Protocol Text is a marketing services business based in Lincoln, Nebraska.