According to 2025 data from the Federal Trade Commission, $2.1 billion was lost in social media scams. That's eight times more than in 2020.
Ron Kerbs, Founder and CEO of Kidas, a scam detection service, says these impostors often rely on urgency and fear tactics.
"We definitely help to protect people from AI-generated scams," he said. "The most common scams that you can see these days are voice cloning."
In addition to identifying deepfakes, they shield gamers from predators.
He says falling victim to fraud is less about being gullible and more about being targeted while vulnerable.
"Don't think that you're too savvy to be scammed," Kerbs said. "I run a scam detection company, and I was almost scammed three weeks ago."
Kerbs says when he was looking for help with a canceled flight, an AI-generated list of customer support contacts offered a fake phone number.
When the person on the other line didn't seem legitimate, he hung up.
"They set it up intentionally to scam people like me who would call those numbers in order to change their flight or in order to get a refund," Kerbs said.
Take your time, do your research and don't let anyone rush you into making a financial decision.
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