AI unleashes more advanced scams. Here's what to look out for (and how to stay protected)

Artificial intelligence (AI) makes creating new materials, such as text or images, as easy as typing a simple text prompt. Even though that capability means big productivity gains for individuals, bad actors can exploit AI to create elaborate cyber scams. Evidence suggests cyberattacks are on the rise. Between March 2024 and March 2025, Microsoft stopped approximately 4 bn of fraud attempts. Many of those attacks were AI-enhanced. "We've seen it where a bunch of people are using AI really well to improve their lives, which is what we want, but in the hands of bad actors, they're using AI to supercharge their scams," said Kelly Bissell, CVP, Fraud and Abuse at Microsoft, to ZDNET.