Almost half of UK adults are finding it increasingly difficult to tell what is genuine online, prompting consumer protection watchdog National Trading Standards (NTS) to launch a new AI Scam Watchlist warning that AI is making fraud more convincing, scalable and harder to detect.
Research published alongside the watchlist found that 47 per cent of UK consumers believe it is becoming harder to distinguish legitimate online content from scams, while almost a quarter aid the growing sophistication of AI-enabled fraud has left them feeling overwhelmed.
The body’s findings highlight growing concerns about the role AI is playing in cybercrime and online fraud, with 35 per cent of respondents worried that AI will make scams even more difficult to identify in the future.
National Trading Standards said AI is not creating entirely new forms of fraud but is “supercharging” existing scams by allowing criminals to produce convincing fake websites, cloned voices, deepfake videos and AI-generated images with far greater speed and scale.
The organisation’s new AI Scam Watchlist identifies nine technologies increasingly being exploited by fraudsters, including digital humans, AI chatbots, voice cloning, fake reviews and manipulated AI search results. It also highlights the ten types of scams most affected, ranging from shopping and investment fraud to romance, travel and technical support scams.
The research also found that 19 per cent of UK adults now avoid certain online activities because they are worried about scams, while 31 per cent scrutinise emails, messages and websites more carefully before responding.
Although 62 per cent of respondents said they were confident they could identify an AI-generated scam, many remained concerned about vulnerable relatives. Some 79 per cent said they worried that a friend or family member could fall victim to AI-enabled fraud.
The scam techniques causing the greatest concern included cloned websites impersonating trusted brands, voice cloning, deepfake videos, AI-generated product images and digital humans capable of interacting with consumers in real time.
Lord Michael Bichard, chair of National Trading Standards, said: “AI is transforming the fraud landscape, as it paves the way for a new generation of organised criminals who need little technical expertise to create convincing scams at huge speed and scale.
“It’s easy for people to feel powerless in the face of AI, but it remains the case that prevention is a critical defence against all fraud.”
Consumer organisations also warned that traditional methods of spotting scams are becoming less effective.
Rocio Concha, head of policy and advocacy at Which?, said that the “tell-tale signs” such as typos or grammatical errors, can no longer be relied on to spot scams in an era of highly-sophisticated AI, making the AI Scams Watchlist an important tool to help people to stay ahead of these threats.
“It’s positive that National Trading Standards is sounding the alarm on AI-driven scams. Which? research supports these findings and we’ve seen experts, let alone the general public, struggle to identify scams built with AI,” she added.
“This is a useful initiative to inform and empower consumers, but it is also necessary to root out fraud at its source. The tech giants who profit from scams must be held accountable. Ofcom should implement the Online Safety Act’s measures on fraudulent advertising as soon as possible and take immediate enforcement action against platforms who are failing to comply with the existing parts of the Act.”
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