A recent investigation has found that American technology is being used to power a revolution in the scam industry, playing a key role in the industrialization and globalization of fraud. Scammers are using software built with artificial intelligence models from US tech companies to target victims at unprecedented speed and scale.

Global Scam Operation

One scammer, Safeer Mohammed Koorimannil, who was trafficked to a scam center in Myanmar, impersonated a 28-year-old Singaporean woman named Ella. He chatted with over 100 people across dozens of profiles at the same time, targeting some 50,000 victims from at least 17 countries in just a month.

The investigation found that American-made AI models, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, have been used to build specialized software that allows scammers to seamlessly work across dozens of languages and target victims around the world. The scam compounds in Myanmar rely on services from US-registered companies, including Cogent Communications, AT&T, DigitalOcean, and Oracle.

Elon Musk’s satellite internet company, Starlink, is the number one internet service provider in Myanmar, including to scam centers. At least 25 new scam compounds have been built deep inside Myanmar since a high-profile crackdown along the Thai border last fall.

Call for Action

Cybersecurity experts say that internet service providers, AI companies, and Starlink could do more to prevent the abuse by scammers, but lack the legal, regulatory, and business incentives to crack down on the crime. The US Federal Trade Commission estimates that scams cost Americans nearly $200 billion in losses in 2024.

Lawmakers and government officials have been asking American tech companies to cooperate to cut scammers off from US infrastructure on a voluntary basis. The UK, EU, Australia, and Singapore have introduced new regulations that require companies to do more to prevent scams, with financial penalties for non-compliance.

Original reporting: NBC6 Miami — read the source article.