Artificial intelligence-powered “scam detection” startup Scamnetic Inc. said it’s making its flagship platform available to software providers today.
Customers will be able to integrate its platform into their software via an application programming interface and provide their users with robust protection from “every type of scam,” the startup promised. Scamnetic says its platform is designed to detect scams across any channel in real time, including email, text messages, chat platforms, phone calls and more. It works by scanning any kind of communication, in order to evaluate whether or not it’s coming from a fraudulent source.
According to Scamnetic, such a platform is desperately needed, as consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraudsters in 2023, according to data from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Of course, it’s not only consumers who are at risk. The Nasdaq 2024 Global Financial Crime Report revealed that “fraud scams and bank fraud schemes” cost businesses a stunning $485.6 billion in losses globally.
Fraud is a lucrative business, and cybercriminals today are taking advantage of advanced AI tools to help perpetrate their scams. Scamnetic is looking to leverage AI to counter these threats, and its comprehensive scam detection platform is built around three key capabilities, it said.
For one, Scamnetic’s Scan&Score tool automatically scans every email, text message, chat and video call, along with QR codes, links and images to try and evaluate the risk of any kind of communication. Meanwhile, its IDeveryone tool is designed to verify the identity of any counterparty, so consumers will know if they’re dealing with a legitimate company representative, for example, or someone who’s entirely unknown and therefore risky. With this tool, users will known exactly whom they’re interacting with, the startup said.
In addition, Scamnetic offers a Scam Intervention tool that provides 24/7 support to scam victims, helping them to recover stolen assets, protect their finances and personal data, and more.
Scamnetic Chief Executive Al Pascual said AI is necessary to identify AI-based scams, because the technology enables fraudsters to avoid traditional means of detection. “The industry has responded with educational efforts, warning customers to ‘watch out for this’ or telling them ‘we will never ask you this,’ but these measures are insufficient,” he said.
The startup claims that it’s able to identify any kind of scam that’s perpetrated online today, including romance, investment, extortion, crypto, brand impersonation, marketplace, sweepstakes, lottery, charity and tech support scams.
One of the unique features of its platform is that it provides a kind of confidence score, based on “indicators of deception,” to assess the level of risk of any interaction someone might have online. It generates a risk score of between one and four, for every communication, and goes beyond that, offering insights that help to explain why it has generated that score, so users can take actions with greater confidence.
What’s reassuring is that Scamnetic is backed by numerous testimonials from early adopters. For instance, Matt O’Neill, former deputy special agent in charge of cyber at the U.S. Secret Service, said: “If this product were available earlier, it would have cut down on the number of cases we saw by 85% or 90%.”
Scamnetic said its first making its platform available to software providers as an API integration, before the rollout of a direct-to-consumer offering that will arrive later this year.