Phishers of emails

Chatbots are the most well-known AI tools, thanks to the massive success of ChatGPT and many that followed, not least Google’s Bard.

Phishing is the most common type of cyber scam, and it involves criminals posing as a company or an individual and sending batches of emails containing links to fake websites or malware.

The two worlds are already colliding, with cybercriminals exchanging tips in online forums on how to get chatbots to generate phishing emails.

Because the major players prevent users from sending these types of emails, developers have created programmes that generate phishing messages, such as FraudGPT and WormGPT.

The effectiveness of these tools has yet to be proven, according to Gerome Billois of consulting firm Wavestone, who told AFP, “We’re only at the very beginning.”

According to experts, the main skill of chatbots used by phishing gangs is to generate fairly clean prose.

Dodgy spelling and scattergun punctuation have long been one of the telltale signs of a phishing email.

“AI accelerates the pace of attacks,” Billois explained.

Last year, the FBI received 300,497 complaints about phishing scams, with losses totaling US$52 million (RM243.6 million).