Gmail warning: Half of Brits clicked on these dangerous new scams

People in the UK are receiving on average seven fake messages or scams per day, with 49% of all Brits found to have clicked on or fallen for a scam in the past year. That’s according to new research from security firm McAfee, who blames the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) on the steep rise in dodgy emails.

This barrage of scams come in via text message, social media, and to email inboxes such as Gmail, to the point that McAfee says the average person in the UK spends an hour each week reading and deciding if such messages are real or fake.

49 percent of people surveyed said scams have become harder to identify, with 31 percent of people who fell for a fake message losing money, with 18 percent losing more than £100.

McAfee says the rise in convincing messages is down to AI helping scammers cut down on typos and other errors that previously made it easier to spot when someone is trying to trick you. 38 percent of people were worried that scams have become harder to spot because they are personal in nature – this can include addressing you by name and referring to services or banks you use.

“With the advancements in AI, scam messages are more convincing than ever – in fact, the majority of Brits believe it is easier to solve the Rubik’s cube than it is to tell real from fake messages,” said Vonny Gamot, Head of EMEA at McAfee.

“Unfortunately, seeing is no longer believing and we need to rely on both human intelligence and AI to help detect and block scam messages in real time.”

The company listed five of the most believable types of scam message to help Brits figure out when something is fishy:

• Fake missed delivery, or delivery problem, notification
• “You’ve won a prize!”
• Alert message claiming to be from the recipient’s bank
• Information about a purchase the recipient didn’t make
• Sign in and location verification messages

We could be in for a battle of the machines in the fight against AI crime, as 48 percent of people said they would trust AI-driven tools to fight back against the scams.

McAfee says if you think before you click and remember that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is, then you’ll go a long way to stopping criminals trick you. The company also said people should use AI-driven tech to counteract the onslaught of scam messages.