COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The Cobb County Sheriff’s Fraud and Forgery Unit says criminals are using artificial intelligence to rip people off.
The department is busy learning all it can about these schemes and spreading awareness to the community about how they can protect themselves.
“It advances every day, and it will continue to do so. That’s just the way the future is,” said Raj Shelat who is a fraud investigator for the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.
When artificial intelligence gets into the wrong hands, it can be detrimental.
“It can be used for many positive benefits, but we are here to focus on the negative benefits of it,” Shelat said.
Investigators say cons are using artificial intelligence to make everyday schemes more believable by cloning someone’s voice or replicating their image.
“They can give it movement and a voice,” said Pedro Munoz, who is a fraud investigator for the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.
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“You can replicate or create an image that makes it look like your child your grandchild whomever is in an incredibly scary situation,” Shelat said.
Shelat and Munoz are just two of eight investigators at the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office Fraud and Forgery Unit.
They are busy learning various techniques of A.I. scams and working partnering with other agencies to share information about what they’ve learned.
The Secret Service, FBI, all the other federal and local agencies, we can tackle this head-on together,” Shelat said.
“We haven’t had any cases here in the county as of yet. I think it’s only a matter of time before we do,” Munoz said.
Investigators say you should always screen your calls and have a secret code with your family.
“If they don’t know the safe word or the code word then you’ll know it’s not really them,” Munoz said.
Munoz said he already goes to senior care homes to warn them about cons. He plans on speaking to the elderly soon about A.I. schemes.
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