Digital Trust & Safety Roundup: AI-fueled fraud, Sift’s newest Trust and Safety Architect, and a recap of TrustCon 2023

AI has been one of the most discussed topics of 2023, especially in fraud prevention. Sift’s Trust and Safety Team addressed the topic in our latest Digital Trust & Safety Index, revealing a spike in scams and increased concern among consumers. Read on to find out more about our research and conversations on AI-fueled fraud, meet our newest Trust and Safety Architect, and see our key takeaways from TrustCon 2023 in this edition of Sift’s Digital Trust & Safety Roundup.

Rising scams and rising worries about AI-fueled fraud

With officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) officials warning that AI may be “the most powerful weapon of our time,” it’s no surprise that AI-driven fraud has been top of mind for many this year. 

Findings from Sift’s most recent Digital Trust & Safety Index revealed that 78% of consumers are worried about AI being used to defraud them and 68% of consumers noticed an increase in the frequency of spam and scams in the six months after ChatGPT was launched in November 2022. An increase in scams during the same period also points to a jump in downstream fraud, most notably a sharp spike in account takeover (ATO) attacks.

Trust and Safety Architects Brittany Allen and Rebecca Alter recently sat down to discuss these findings and what it means for both fraudsters and fraud fighters. Watch below or on YouTube.

Welcome Rebecca Alter, Sift Trust and Safety Architect

Sift’s newest Trust and Safety Architect, Rebecca Alter, has more than a decade of experience fighting fraud at organizations such as Stripe and Square, where she printed and read the entire Visa dispute manual, earning her the nickname “Chargeback Girl.”

“Witnessing how much the field has grown over the years is astounding. There’s always something new to learn, and the ever-evolving nature of it all makes this new role an exciting and wild ride to be on,” said Alter.

Get to know more about Rebecca’s career in Trust and Safety and what brought her to Sift in our blog. 

Top takeaways from TrustCon 2023

Sift Trust and Safety Architect Jane Lee recently shared her experience and insights from TrustCon 2023, where she also presented her own undercover research into ‘Pig Butchering,’ a type of romance and investment scam with a cryptocurrency component. 

“TrustCon’s keynote address on opening day focused on the risks and threats of generative AI,” writes Lee. “While its accessibility, variability, ease of use, and scale make it the ‘next big thing’ for technology, these are also the very reasons why it complicates trust and safety initiatives.”

Read more about Jane’s experience at TrustCon.

And if you’re curious about Jane’s experience going undercover to understand the mechanics of Pig Butchering, be sure to listen to her interview on the Privacy Please podcast, where she discussed her research and many other fraud fighting trends.

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