To find out more, visit uk.norton.com
Can you trust what you see or read online? Thanks to AI, the answer is increasingly: no. AI enables scammers and fraudsters to make incredibly convincing messages, emails, websites and even videos to trick you into installing malicious software or handing over the keys to your financial kingdom. And because AI makes those fakes so easy and so fast to make, the numbers of such scams are soaring.
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AI charging scams. Here's how
you can outsmart them.
In order to fight back against the frauds, you need to know who they are.
Some of them are old enemies, such as the phishing scams that pretend to
be messages from our banks or credit card companies (or tech giants), but
the links they include send us to convincing but fake websites hosted on
real platforms.
AI and automation make it faster and easier than ever before to make those fakes, to personalize them to make them incredibly convincing, and to send them to more people than ever before. According to the Gen Q1 2025 Threat report, there was a 466% increase in such scams during the first three months of 2025.
While old scams never die, some of the threats are brand new – and AI is behind those too. Deepfake technology is now being used to create fake testimonials from famous faces, and it's being used to create entirely fake influencers too.
Fake influencers are people who post exciting videos on social media showing you a wonderful new browser add-on that'll make you lots of money. But the promised money isn't real, and neither is the influencer: they're entirely AI-generated, and the browser add-on, extension or plug-in they're pushing is malicious software. This type of scam, called a Scam-Yourself Attack because their victims voluntarily install the dodgy download, has increased 1,700% in 2025 so far.
There are four things you can do to fight back against the frauds.
trust no-one
Avast offers two forms of anti-scam protection: Scam Guardian, which is part of Avast Free Antivirus, and Scam Guardian Pro, which is part of Avast Premium Security and offers AI-powered scam protection.
Scam Guardian keeps you safer from hidden scams while browsing, emailing or socialising online, and it blocks malicious websites and downloads. And Avast Scam Guardian Pro adds even more protection with its powerful Email Guard.
Both versions of Scam Guardian include Avast Assistant for Windows and for Mac, an AI-powered personal assistant designed to help you navigate digital life with easy-to-understand answers about suspicious online messages, offers and more: simply upload texts, images, links or emails and Avast Assistant will analyse them for scam risks. It can also give you answers and practical advice about digital safety.
Scam Guardian also protects you with its Web Guard, which scans websites for threats including hidden scams and other potential dangers, and that works on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.
To find out more, visit uk.norton.com
How to spot, and fight, AI-powered
frauds and fakes
KNOW YOUR ENEMY
This type of scam, called a Scam-Yourself
Attack because their victims voluntarily install
the dodgy download, has increased
1,700% in 2025 so far.
”
“
– and the more urgent the message, the more suspicious you should be. Fraudsters like to put pressure on people so that they won't sit back and think about whether the message or pop-up they've received is actually real. That's why so many scam messages and pop-ups try to make you panic: your computer has been infected! Your card details have been compromised! Act now, before it's too late!
The first thing is to be suspicious
Step two is to add more security
Many apps and websites now enable you to use multi-factor authentication (sometimes called two-factor authentication, or 2FA for short) when you login, so even if you have the correct username and password you can't get in unless you also provide an authentication code. That code can be sent to your registered phone number, or sometimes generated by an app such as Google Authenticator. The method doesn't really matter: what's key is that without the code, it's Access Denied to the bad guys.
By that we mean you should install a software package from a trustworthy source that can help spot scams before they even reach you. There are lots of such packages out there, and one of our favorite ones comes from the respected security firm Avast.
Step three is to verify your sources
When you're exposed to an online influencer or a too-good-to-be-true retailer, find out who they are – because many of the deepfaked influencers and sites don't have a history, and the ones that do aren't usually very detailed. Look at email addresses and web addresses carefully: are they real? Do they contain spelling mistakes or more subtle tricks such as using a zero instead of an O or a 1 instead of a lower case L?
And step four is to get yourself some anti-scam sonar
ANDROID UNDER ATTACK
Scam Guardian Pro gives you all of these features too, and it also adds Email Guard. That scans and flags safe and potentially suspicious emails before they get to you, helping protect your email wherever you check it on whatever device you’re using. Email Guard protection works on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.
It's time to stop the cybercriminals in their tracks – so if scammers are using AI, you should be too. And the good news is that stepping up your security has never been easier, or more effective. Click here to find out more.
That's terrifying, because these days even the camera lies. For example, in the run-up to the inauguration of President Trump, millions of dollars were scammed out of people by very convincing but completely fake videos showing Donald Trump and Elon Musk apparently promoting fraudulent crypto giveaways. This "deepfake" technology makes it easier than ever for fraudsters and other cybercriminals to pretend to be someone they're not.
We're already swamped with scams. According to the trade group UK Finance, over £570 million was stolen by fraudsters in UK in the first half of 2024 – and more than 70% of those frauds began online.
The good news is that you're not defenceless. All you need to do is be smarter than the scammers - and to have the right tools.
ANDROID
UNDER ATTACK