Consumer-to- consumer scams: crooks use artificial intelligence

Technology is advancing fast, very fast. With advances in artificial intelligence, more and more people have access to very powerful tools without even needing technical knowledge. The latest work from graphics card specialist Nvidia is now available to everyone, and scammers are already starting to take advantage.

On ad platforms like Facebook, moderation is going to become very difficult

Today, there are several techniques for detecting a fake classified ad on Facebook, as we explain in this article. On Facebook itself, the technical teams are able to identify fake profiles thanks in particular to the profile photos used by scammers, which are in fact those of people who actually exist. Even a private individual could use reverse Google search to identify whether a person's profile photo had already been used elsewhere. However, artificial intelligence now makes it possible to create photos of people... who don't exist!

How does it work?

All you have to do is visit https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/, which is a generator of faces of people who do not exist, and can therefore never be identified by reverse look-up or as a duplicate. To achieve this result, Nvidia runs two computer programmes:

• The first uses a database of existing photos to mix the characteristics of different faces to create new ones.
• The second will judge the programme's work by comparing it with other images and thus determine the level of realism of the artificial face created, and thus judge its relevance and order the first to make new combinations if the result is not satisfactory.

Despite the various stages in the process, the result is almost instantaneous and strikingly realistic, so much so that at first glance it's impossible to see that it's an artificially created face.

Although this technology may seem rather amusing and useful for a whole range of purposes (retouching or restoring old or damaged photographs, etc.), it can also be used for malicious purposes and prove extremely useful to scammers in generating fake profiles that are even more difficult to detect and put out of action.

How can scammers use this technology?

This resource can very quickly become the new favourite toy of scammers. It allows them to create fake profiles with photos that are impossible to identify as having been stolen, giving them even more time to implement their scamming schemes. They can generate an infinite number of photos on the fly that can be used for all kinds of purposes, from fraudulent Facebook accounts to false identity papers and fake certificates.

Technology brings as many benefits as it can create new problems, and scammers are well aware of this: since the advent of the internet, the number of scams has continued to rise. Artificial intelligence is also an incredible technological revolution, and will, as always, be exploited by dishonest people.

It is increasingly important to secure your transactions between private individuals

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