Every generation has faced deception. Ours just wears a different face.
The modern scam no longer arrives as a foreign prince or a sketchy link. It comes as a familiar voice, a copied website, or a message that sounds like someone you know.
The tools are new. The tricks are not. What has changed is how convincing they have become. We once looked for typos or bad grammar as clues. Now we listen to a familiar voice and wonder if it is real.
Fraud is no longer a stranger at the door.
It is a voice that sounds like someone you would let in.
Technology has not made people more dishonest. It has made dishonesty more efficient. As artificial intelligence makes imitation effortless, trust itself has become the new target. That is the real shift. We are not only protecting money anymore. We are protecting what we believe to be true.
The Scale of the Problem
In the past year, I have had more conversations about fraud than about market volatility. It is not fear that comes up first, but confusion. People wonder what, or who, they can still trust.
The Federal Trade Commission reported $12.5 billion in consumer fraud losses last year, a 25 percent jump from 2023, with investment scams the largest at $5.7 billion. Nearly 6.5 million complaints were filed, an all-time high.
Younger adults lost money to scams almost twice as often as seniors, but older adults lost two to four times more per incident. Even military families weren’t spared: almost $600 million in losses were tied to imposter and investment scams.
These are not isolated mistakes. They reveal a pattern that crosses age, income, and education. In moments of urgency, emotion overrides judgment.
AI Has Changed the Nature of Deception
Artificial intelligence has supercharged traditional fraud. Scammers can now clone a voice, duplicate a company website, or produce a fake video meeting that looks genuine. Deep-fake impersonations of executives, advisors, and family members have already caused millions in losses.
A 2025 BrokerChooser study found deep-fake scams up 500 percent in a single year. What began as a novelty has become an industrial-scale attack on perception.
Society is inching toward a point where it can no longer tell real from fake. That uncertainty threatens not only markets but also public trust.
Why Smart People Still Fall for It
Fraud works because it targets instincts, not intelligence. Every scam uses some version of the same formula: authority, urgency, or fear of loss.
- Authority bias: “Your CEO needs this handled right now.”
- Urgency bias: “Act within ten minutes or your account will be locked.”
- Fear and relief: “Your child is in trouble, and we can help if you act fast.”
These triggers are effective because they bypass thought. They use the same emotional shortcuts that lead investors to chase returns or sell in panic.
Fraud is not a test of knowledge. It is a test of patience.
How to Reclaim Control
We cannot outsmart every scheme, but we can build habits that make us harder targets. Think of these less as rules and more as systems for slowing down.
- Pause and verify.
- If something sounds urgent, stop. Contact the company or person directly using a number or website you already know.
- (Federal Trade Commission and FBI guidance: take a beat before acting; legitimate institutions will give you time.)
- Use independent channels.
- Do not reply to the message you received, click the link, or call the number provided. Start a new message or call through a phone number or website you have already verified.
- (FTC: “Don’t call a number they gave you or the number from your caller ID.”)
- Create a trusted check-in.
- Choose one person, such as a family member, colleague, or advisor, to consult before moving money or sharing personal information.
- (FTC: “Stop and talk to someone you trust.”)
- Assume authenticity can be faked.
- Voices, photos, and websites can now be cloned with AI. Do not rely on appearance or tone. Trust your process, the few seconds of calm you give yourself before urgency takes over, not your impressions.
- (FTC: caller ID, company logos, and even voices can be spoofed; deep-fake tools make imitation effortless.)
- Strengthen digital barriers.
- Use strong, unique passwords and enable multi-factor authentication on financial and email accounts. These small steps prevent most account-takeover attempts before they begin.
- (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center and CISA: layered authentication reduces exposure to impersonation attacks.)
- Report and document.
- If something seems off, document it and report it immediately to your bank or to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Quick reporting can limit losses and help others avoid the same trap.
- (FTC: prompt reporting improves recovery odds and enforcement.)
These steps are simple. They restore the pause that technology removed, the small space between instinct and action where judgment still has time to work.
(Sources: Federal Trade Commission Consumer Alerts; FBI “Take a Beat” Anti-Fraud Campaign; CISA & IC3 Recommendations on Multi-Factor Authentication, 2024–2025.)
Fraud as a Mirror
AI did not invent deception. It removed the friction that once gave us time to think. Fraud has always been part of human behavior. What is new is how fast it moves and how real it looks.
When emotion moves faster than judgment, even thoughtful people make mistakes. Scams work because they appeal to what makes us human: fear, urgency, and the wish to do the right thing quickly.
We are not only facing new technology. We are relearning old disciplines: skepticism, patience, and verification. The same habits that support good financial decisions also protect us from manipulation.
Fraud will continue to evolve. The lies will sound smoother, the voices more familiar, the stories harder to question. Our defense does not need to be complex.
Pause. Verify. Protect your attention as carefully as your accounts. The structure that builds stability with money also creates peace of mind in a noisy world.
We cannot stop every false signal, but we can decide how quickly we respond and what deserves a second look. That pause, that quiet moment between instinct and action, remains the most reliable form of security we have.
D’Agaro Financial Advisory is a Registered Investment Adviser located in Virginia. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. This content is for educational purposes only and is not tax, legal, or investment advice.