Recently, Interpol has warned that artificial intelligence (AI) is significantly lowering the threshold for cybercrime, enabling newcomers with little to no technical background to easily carry out large-scale fraud, making cybercrime faster and more accessible. These crimes lead to billions of dollars in losses for the global economy each year.
On May 15th, Neal Jetton, the head of Interpol’s Cybercrime Division, stated in an interview with Politico that crime tools have transitioned from requiring professional technical expertise in the past to being available for direct purchase in a “plug-and-play” mode. This includes so-called “phishing-as-a-service” kits and commercial AI chatbots.
According to Jetton, “The most challenging aspect is that these tools allow even beginners to engage in fraud on a large scale.”
“Phishing-as-a-service” refers to fraud toolkits that can be directly purchased, allowing users to quickly set up phishing websites, send fraudulent emails, and track victim data even without technical expertise.
Commercial AI chatbots can assist criminals in rapidly generating highly realistic electronic mails, text messages, or social media messages, significantly increasing the success rate of fraud.
Jetton mentioned that this allows organized crime groups to outsource technical work and supplement their lack of skills with AI, further expanding the scale of criminal activities.
According to a report released by Interpol in March this year, AI-driven fraud is 4.5 times more profitable than traditional methods. Furthermore, there is concern that some terrorist organizations in Africa are also utilizing internet fraud to fund their activities.
Currently, a global collaborative action led by the UK with participation from France, Germany, and Italy is targeting specific fraud hubs known as large-scale fraud parks.
These parks often involve human trafficking, with the trafficked victims being forced to engage in online fraud within the park.
Jetton highlighted that AI chatbots enable park staff to quickly create customized fraudulent emails and even use deepfake technology to generate lifelike audio-visual content.
At the time Jetton issued this warning, Europe is facing the challenge of how to deal with the new generation of advanced AI models.
Models such as Anthropic’s Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT-5.5-Cyber are believed to outperform most human hackers in some cyber testing scenarios.
This has prompted governments worldwide to accelerate their engagement with these models while also sparking extensive discussions on regulatory mechanisms.
Jetton revealed that during a recent Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) meeting he attended, these AI tools were the central topic of concern among participants.
However, he emphasized that AI has not created entirely new types of crimes. “What we’re witnessing is AI accelerating the spread and escalation of existing crimes like fraud and phishing attacks.”
Interpol currently has 196 member countries, with its Cybercrime Division primarily assisting national police forces in combating general cybercrime but not dealing with state-sponsored cyberattacks.
Jetton disclosed that an Interpol operation funded by the EU targeting internet fraud in the Middle East region led to the arrest of about 200 individuals earlier this year.