Fraud Seminar

Exchange Bank – Andrew J. Shepard Building – 444 Aviation Blvd. Santa Rosa

Wednesday, May 20 at  3:30 PM

Light refreshments will be served

Cyber scams keep getting more sophisticated and damaging, especially with AI. According to the American Bankers Association (ABA);

Americans lost nearly $20.9 billion to cybercrime last year, representing a 26% surge from the year before, as scammers increasingly turned to cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence to facilitate their crimes, according to a new report by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3.

The elderly remain the primary target for fraudsters, with victims aged 60 or over reporting more than $7.7 billion in losses. Victims aged 50-59 reported more than $3.6 billion in losses, with younger age groups reporting less. The average loss among all victims was $20,699. That average increased to $62,604 when crypto was involved. Complaints involving cryptocurrency accounted for more than $11 billion in total losses, a 22% increase from 2024.

For the first time this year, the IC3 report included a section on AI-facilitated fraud, which accounted for more than 22,000 complaints and nearly $893 million in losses. “Scammers rely on pressure techniques to defraud Americans while deploying fake social profiles, voice clones, identification documents, and believable videos depicting public figures or loved ones,” the agency said.