Be Suspicious: Catfishing, Phishing, and Deepfakes

 Catfishing, phishing, and deepfakes are all things that we experience daily, often unknowingly. AI and technology have given humans greater access, resources, and abilities to conduct such scams and put us, innocent bystanders, in harm's way. It has taught us to be suspicious of everything. Rather than brainlessly scrolling through social media, we now have to put our “thinking caps” on and be able to differentiate between what news is real and what is fake. 

    To give an example, just a few days prior to our class on Tuesday, my dad received a call from a well-known collector's office. The woman left a message stating my dad’s name and that a lawsuit has been filed against him. Having listened to the message, it seemed plausible aside from the fact that my dad doesn't owe anyone anything. Although my dad knows he paid all his bills on time, he panicked and came to ask what it was about. I am thankful that I have parents who are experienced enough to differentiate between what's real and what's fake, but, being caught in the moment, my dad began to doubt himself. 

    Having experienced this situation and conveniently covered the topic of scams in class that day, I couldn’t help but wonder about the number of people who would have actually fallen for a scam like this one. Especially those who truly know that they are in debt. Having also seen the videos in class of people who had fallen in love online and got scammed, it shows that they were simply looking for love, but were caught in the moment and in the feeling of being loved.
    I wasn’t at all surprised to see the AI news reporters, let alone the statistics on the amount of fake accounts on social media. However, I am proud to say that, although I was aware of catfishing, phishing, and deepfakes, my eyes were opened in class to the prevalence of such scams. I also found myself using what we learned from class about how to identify fakes while scrolling through my social media, and was able to detect multiple fake videos and news reports on my Instagram. 

Comments

  1. williams.dan76September 9, 2025 at 2:19 PM

    Thanks, Vera. Great first post. Sorry to hear your father was targeted, and sorrier still to realize that you are right--phishing and deep fakes have become a daily experience. We do have to be alert all of the time, but the scams keep evolving along with the technology. It's scary, but with AI and algorithms people can be individually targeted, like your father. What scares me the most is that some of these scams are almost impossible to detect. The scammers go after the most vulnerable people, usually the elderly.

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