AI can now access your credit cards — how to protect yourself from being scammed

With recent advancements in artificial intelligence, it’s becoming easier for consumers to let AI play a role in their finances.

Robinhood, a financial services platform and mobile app, now has AI agents that can make credit card purchases and investment trades on your behalf (1). And after announcing a collaboration with OpenAI, Visa introduced secure payments with agentic commerce (2), “enabling seamless and trusted payments across OpenAI,” according to a company press release (3).

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But a new report suggests letting AI handle your finances can come with serious risks.

“Consumers don’t need to fear AI tools,” Jennifer White, managing director of banking and payments intelligence at JD Power, told U.S. News & World Report (4). “But they do need to be more intentional about what information they share with them.”

How AI in finance is good for scammers

As AI-powered transactions become the norm, experts warn that placing too much trust in AI could leave consumers vulnerable to fraud and identity theft.

“People have this vision of a hacker in a hoodie in a basement somewhere that’s trying to get their details and sending out the Nigerian prince-type emails,” Ian Bednowitz, general manager at LifeLock, told U.S. News and World Report (4). “The reality is that was something that existed five or 10 years ago. The threat landscape has completely changed.”

In the past, scammers used data brokers, social media, the dark web and other tactics to target victims or steal their identities. But handing financial information to AI can make that process faster, easier and less expensive. As AI gives fraudsters more sophisticated tools, consumers need to be even more careful about protecting their credentials or information.

“The risk to consumers is not necessarily the technology itself,” said White. “It’s how easily consumers can be manipulated into sharing information or taking actions that override existing safeguards.”

One example is an indirect prompt injection. This is a trick in which scammers hide malicious instructions in websites or other data sources that AI systems can access.

“What it means is an [AI] agent goes to a site, reads text or goes into a login, whatever code it’s reading, and within that there’s malicious code that basically tells the agent to override the instructions it’s been given and use those instructions instead,” Bednowitz said.

Those instructions could trigger dangerous actions, such as sending emails containing personal information, including bank account details, tax returns stored on your computer or your Social Security number.

“You’re opening up a Pandora’s box when you start to give credentials to an [AI] agent,” said Bednowitz. “You’re giving the keys to your kingdom out to fraudsters.”

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How to protect yourself

While AI is giving consumers access to powerful new tools, it’s also helping scammers develop more sophisticated ways to commit fraud. Protecting your personal information is more important than ever.

“If you’re asking AI tools questions about your finances, avoid including account details, login information or anything that could be used to verify your identity,” White told U.S. News & World Report (4).

AI has also been known to “amplify social engineering schemes,” which use psychological manipulation to persuade people to send money or divulge sensitive financial information.

“Be cautious about any unsolicited outreach that creates urgency or requests sensitive information,” White said.

Here are two more ways to protect your finances from AI-related threats:

• Use the fraud prevention tools offered by your financial institution: Banks and credit card companies often include security features on their websites and mobile apps. White encourages consumers to take advantage of those tools and follow the guidance of their financial institutions.
• Enable multifactor authentication and Face ID or biometric login: If these options are available, use them. “It adds a little bit of friction, but that little bit of friction versus the cost, the time, the energy when something goes wrong — there’s just not a comparison,” Bednowitz told U.S. News & World Report.

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Article Sources

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Robinhood (1); IBM (2); Visa Investor Relations (3); U.S. News & World Report (4)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.