AMHERST — A video uploaded to YouTube, promoting financial investments through an artificial intelligence program that would help generate significant returns on cryptocurrency, featured the company’s CEO speaking on screen.

Yet it turns out that the person in the video never existed in the real world, instead being AI-generated and part of a scam aimed at stealing money from those who might make investments with the company.

Such use of modern technology for an investment scam illustrates the continued challenge of combating scammers and cybercriminals, says Steve Weisman, an Amherst attorney with Margolis, Bloom & D’Agostino who teaches a white-collar crime course at Bentley College in Waltham.

“It’s incredible,” Weisman said. “They really know how to prey on people.”

Weisman’s knowledge comes, in part, from editing his scamicide.com website for nearly 12 years and publishing 4,400 “scam of the day” posts, detailing the increasingly sophisticated methods used by identity thieves and scam artists to seek out and fleece victims. Weisman said he has never been short of content for the website.

Earlier this month, Weisman was one of four witnesses who provided expert written and oral testimony to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, which held a hearing Nov. 16 to examine how scammers use artificial intelligence to create voice clones and deepfakes that target older Americans.

In his testimony, Weisman pointed to the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel report for 2022, showing that older Americans reported more than $1.6 billion in losses to frauds and scams. But the actual amount could be as high as $48.4 billion, with many afraid to report losing money due to embarrassment or shame.

“Fear and greed are two elements that are found in every kind of scam, and unfortunately crypto has just captured the imagination of many people, including seniors, and it’s come back to bite us,” Weisman said at the hearing.

Philadelphia attorney Gary Schildhorn was one of the other witnesses, sharing his story of an attempted scam against him where his son’s voice was spoofed by AI. Despite the attempt, he said, there are no laws to protect against AI-generated scams if no money was taken.

Other witnesses were Tom Romanoff, director of the Technology Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, and Tahir Ekin, director of the Center for Analytics and Data Science at Texas State University in San Marcos.

Burgeoning fame

Weisman said he was called to testify because the committee was aware of his blog, and that it has achieved some popularity, observing that the New York Times named scamicide.com as one of the top three resources for uncovering COVID-related scams.

During the hearing, there was discussion about the need for legislation to create tools and resources that can be used by law enforcement to hold scammers accountable under the law, for regulating AI, and for protecting consumers from scams related to cryptocurrency.

Weisman and the others fielded questions from several of the senators, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Warren said regulation is essential, as Americans are getting “sick and tired” of cryptocrimes, “and it’s long past time we get some regulation in place to deal with this.”

“We’ve got no time to waste on this,” Warren said. “These scams are happening every day.”

Weisman praised Warren for legislation she has proposed, and also told Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., that regulating cryptocurrency ATMs makes sense, as they provide easy means for scammers to get money and are unregulated. Weisman told the senators that he supports the “eminently reasonable” regulations under consideration. “This is what we should be doing,” he said.

Weisman said the Stop Senior Scams Act, co-sponsored by committee Chairman Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., is also a way to combat scams. This legislation would create a federal advisory group charged with bringing together government officials, industry representatives, advocates and consumer representatives to collect and develop model educational materials for retailers, financial institutions and wire transfer companies to use in stopping scams on seniors.

This might protect seniors who lose money when they conduct wire transfers through Western Union or are asked to purchase gift cards by scammers, Weisman said.

He also credits the Biden administration with pursuing approaches such as regulating mixers that provide anonymity to those dealing in cryptocurrency, and that these entities would have to follow some of the same “know your customer” regulations that apply to banks and lending institutions.

Many of the scams have been around for decades if not centuries, Weisman said, with the Nigerian prince emails basically an update of the Spanish prisoner trick, now becoming more sophisticated and technologically advanced.

For instance, an elderly relative used to receive a phone call from a person pretending to be a grandchild who was being held hostage or in prison or in some other trouble. Now, voice cloning can be used to better deceive the intended victim.

Similarly, with e-phishing and spearfishing, where a person is asked to click on a link or provide personal information online, AI is correcting grammar and syntax that might have once been a giveaway that the email was not from someone whose primary language is English.

Weisman said education remains the best way to recognize scams, from phony tech support scams to phony romance scams and phony lottery scams. Yet older Americans are still particularly vulnerable, as brain changes in old age may make them less skeptical, he said.

Even with the various pieces of legislation being advanced, Weisman said the best safeguard is for people to practice common sense, as best they can.

“People need to protect themselves, learn to be skeptical, and to not make rash, quick decisions, which is what scammers depend on,” Weisman said. “As long as there are people who can be preyed upon, there are going to be scams.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.