Re:scam robot successfully battling phishers
Following the launch of Re:scam by Netsafe in the first week of November, it has received 72,261 emails.
The artificially intelligent email assistant was introduced after cybercrime cost New Zealand almost $257 million in the past 12 months.
With 70% of New Zealand businesses having experienced a cyber attack or fallen victim to an email scam, Re:scam has been specifically designed to target the problem of phishing.
The idea is that users can forward spam emails to the program, which has an automated conversation with spammers until they simply stop replying.
Re:scam’s powerful AI is capable of assuming multiple personas, engaging scammers in an ongoing exchange that wastes the time they otherwise could have spent targeting potential victims. It can imitate real human tendencies by using humour and making grammatical errors, all while collecting data that will help to bring down criminals by exposing their vulnerabilities.
“Everyone is susceptible to online phishing schemes and, no matter how tech savvy you are, scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated,” said Netsafe CEO Martin Cocker.
“Re:scam will adapt as the scammers adapt their techniques, collecting data that will help us to keep up and protect more and more people across New Zealand.”
The total number of forward scam emails Re:scam has received since its launch is 72,261. In addition, the Re:scam video has had 380,000 views and the website has had 205,000 unique page views.
The technology is currently having thousands of simultaneous conversations with scammers around the globe, which can be seen here.
It has also analysed forwarded scams to identify emerging trends and draw awareness to popular scams being circulated, such as conference, Bitcoin, package delivery and Russian bride scams.
Re:scam has been able to identify and intercept victims of phishing scams, with Netsafe personally following up and offering confidential advice and further support.
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