With the development of artificial intelligence the methods employed by financial scammers will become more refined, as LETA was told by Latvian Swedbank Chairman Lauris Mencis.
He said financial scams, unfortunately, are an everyday problem, adding that it is important to work hard to prevent such cases.
Mencis also mentioned that any scam attempt consists of several stages. The objective is working to ensure that if scammers make it through one stage, they are unable to pass the next and clients’ money remains safe.
Swedbank Chairman also mentioned that statistical data shows that scammers steal money from people of various ages and wealth – some fall for one type of scams, others to other types.
“We will do our jobs, but we urge everyone to be careful, rational and critical. We urge people to discuss various security measures with friends and relatives, because scammers often acquire information from people through conversations, intimidation, sympathy or through other means, which results in people handing over their money to scammers pretending to be law enforcers or other officials,” said Mencis.
He also stressed that this is a risk characteristic for our time, considering that, on the one hand, technologies that can be used by scammers continue developing, whereas, on the other hand, there is the ever-growing level of convenience that is expected of financial services. “This is why this fight never ends,” said Mencis.
He also said that in order to prevent scams, there has to be a systemic approach from several industries. It is also important to keep in mind that as artificial intelligence develops, the methods employed by scammers will become even more refined.
“We shouldn’t assume scammers will act as though a travelling circus that arrives and then leaves. This is a form of business in its own right, and it continues developing,” said Mencis.
Asset-wise, Swedbank is the biggest bank in Latvia.