Robinhood has artificial intelligence agents that can make investment trades and credit card purchases for you, and Visa recently announced a collaboration with OpenAI to enable secure Visa payments within agentic commerce. It seemingly becomes easier every day for consumers to give permission for AI agents to shop on their behalf.
As we get closer to AI-powered credit card decisions and transactions becoming the norm, fraudsters and scammers are already salivating at this new avenue to infiltrate. Sure, having your very own personal assistant — or AI agent — to handle your day-to-day finances may sound great in theory, but experts warn that putting too much trust in AI could leave consumers vulnerable to identity theft, fraud and poor decisions.
Here’s what you need to know to navigate credit safely and protect your identity as new AI tools and capabilities become mainstream.
Is AI Good for You or the Scammers?
“People have this vision of a hacker in a hoodie in a basement somewhere that’s trying to get their details and sending out the Nigerian prince-type emails,” says Ian Bednowitz, general manager at LifeLock. “The reality is that was something that existed five or 10 years ago. The threat landscape has completely changed.”
With AI, actions that scammers used to have to do manually — like using the dark web, data brokers and social media to put together profiles to target individuals or steal their identities — can be done at scale. Deepfake voice and deepfake video are powering a growth in fraud.
“You need only a snippet — seconds — of someone’s voice or video, and small amounts of cost to be able to create a compelling deepfake of them,” says Bednowitz.
As AI lowers the cost of being a scammer, it’s raising the stakes for consumers, says Jennifer White, managing director of banking and payments intelligence at JD Power. “Consumers don’t need to fear AI tools,” she says, “but they do need to be more intentional about what information they share with them.”
[Read: Best Credit Cards]
In the last three months, according to the latest data on financial protection from JD Power, 53% of bank customers have used AI to ask for financial advice or information. For those 40 or younger, it’s 7 in 10 consumers.
Ultimately, while AI is giving new tools to consumers, it’s also giving fraudsters more sophisticated ways to target them. “The risk to consumers is not necessarily the technology itself,” says White. “It’s how easily consumers can be manipulated into sharing information or taking actions that override existing safeguards.”
Here’s why. AI-powered scams are often:
— More personalized
— More convincing
— Faster and cheaper to execute
In other words, AI could be increasing the likelihood of fraud success. For example, JD Power research has found that 11% of bank customers have fallen prey to phishing scams, buying things from illegitimate entities and impersonations.
Information sharing can be the biggest vulnerability. “If you’re asking AI tools questions about your finances, avoid including account details, login information or anything that could be used to verify your identity,” White says.
AI can also amplify social engineering schemes, which is using psychological manipulation to get people to divulge information or send money. “Be cautious about any unsolicited outreach that creates urgency or requests sensitive information,” says White.
[Read: Rewards Credit Cards]
Will AI Agents Become the Norm?
The major payment networks are trying to get ahead of the potential security threats from letting AI agents have more access to credit accounts. “Transactions will use tokenized Visa credentials and real-time authorization and fraud monitoring, helping enable new AI-enabled payment experiences to maintain strong security and consumer protection,” said a recent Visa news release.
But what about using third-party agent tools or services that seem to be working on your behalf? Bednowitz worries that things may be moving too fast. “When you have agents that are doing things on your behalf, the threat surface becomes much, much larger,” he says.
[Read: Travel Credit Cards]
For example, he says that an “indirect prompt injection” could wreak havoc. “What it means is an agent goes to a site, reads text or goes into a login, whatever code it’s reading, and within that there’s malicious code that basically tells the agent to override the instructions it’s been given and use those instructions instead,” he says.
That could include nefarious actions like sending over emails with any Social Security number, bank account details or tax return files from the computer. “You’re opening up a Pandora’s box when you start to give credentials to an agent,” he says. “You’re giving the keys to your kingdom out to fraudsters.”
How Consumers Can Protect Their Credit From AI Risks
Enterprise financial companies are working on two things simultaneously with AI: Protecting customers from credit card fraud and adding new tools to enhance the user experience. During this learning curve, consumers can take a few proactive steps to protect themselves.
— Take advantage of the available fraud prevention tools. They only work if consumers engage with them, says White, and they’re still underutilized. Banks and credit card issuers often have a security center embedded in their mobile apps or online experiences. White advises following the guidance of your trusted financial institutions, which can include ensuring your mobile app is the most recent version and setting up alerts to help notify you when in the danger zone.
— Embrace the login friction. Consumers should always enable multifactor authentication and set up face ID whenever that option is given. “It adds a little bit of friction, but that little bit of friction versus the cost, the time, the energy when something goes wrong — there’s just not a comparison,” Bednowitz says.
— Be skeptical of every form of communication. Sophisticated scammers tend to bombard consumers when they are at their most vulnerable or distracted. “No matter how vigilant you are, you’re busy, you get emotional, things are going to catch you off guard, and that’s when the scammers strike,” says Bednowitz. Bonus tip: Choose a safe word that only family members would know for potential scams in which someone impersonates a loved one in trouble.
— Mind your bot conversations. Be wary of giving personal details to any kind of AI chatbot or AI agent, especially regarding your finances. “You should be giving it only generic information,” Bednowitz says. “You should be only asking it about things that are publicly known about you already.”
More from U.S. News
Is the New Chase Disney Credit Card the Best for Your Summer Disney Plans?
Limited-Time BP Card Offer Can Save You 50 Cents per Gallon This Summer
Are You 25 to 40? Here’s the Best Credit Card Strategy for You
Now AI Can Use Your Credit Card. Here’s How to Be Careful. originally appeared on usnews.com
