51% of Indians have been catfished by an AI chatbot

Are you being catfished by a chatbot? Is the person you’re swiping right on an amalgamation of multiple profiles? An alarming study by McAfee has found an increase in AI-driven romance scams, fraudulent dating apps, and deepfake deception. A significant 70 per cent of people have either been scammed out of money, valuables, or other assets, or been pressured to buy gifts or send money by someone they met online, the company found.

An AI Love

McAfee surveyed 7,000 adults in the US, UK, France, Germany, India, Japan, and Australia recently, and found that at least 51 per cent of Indians say that they or someone they know has been approached by an AI chatbot posing as a real person on a dating platform or social media. 28 per cent of individuals said they found themselves conversing with what they believed was a potential love interest, only to later discover it was an AI-generated bot.

“84 per cent of Indians say online dating scams including deepfake audio, video, and imagery, and text and email scam messages, have impacted their ability to trust potential matches,” says Pratim Mukherjee, senior director of engineering, McAfee. “As we navigate the complexities of the digital age, it’s crucial to remain vigilant and continually educate ourselves about the ever-evolving online scams.”

If someone avoids video calls, moves conversations off-platform quickly, or declares love too soon, proceed with caution, Mukherjee said.

This doesn’t extend to only “matches”. 69 per cent of Indians, McAfee found, have encountered ‘fake profiles’ and/or photos that look AI-generated on dating websites or apps, or on social media. 42 per cent of individuals reported that they or someone they know has been approached on social media by someone claiming to be a celebrity or a well-known figure. [One way to counteract fake profiles is to reverse image search profile pictures and check social media activity to confirm if they are who they claim to be.]

Easy Targets

“Many of these scammers operate from overseas and don’t speak fluent English,” said Satnam Narang, senior staff research engineer at cybersecurity company Tenable. “AI helps them craft sophisticated, emotionally compelling messages that make their scams more believable and harder to detect.”Elderly individuals, former military personnel, and those seeking financial arrangements are said to be among the most vulnerable to romance scams.