With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), financial fraud techniques are becoming increasingly deceptive and sophisticated. Sally Westlake, an expert from the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) in California, emphasized during a “Financial Security and Fraud Prevention Seminar” hosted by the Taiwanese American Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles (TACCLA) on August 14 (Friday) that scammers are now able to forge phone numbers, replicate the voices of victims’ relatives, and even create fake videos to deceive the public. Faced with various suspicious calls, text messages, or emails, she stressed the most crucial defense principle is to “not interact at all”.
Citing the Internet Crime Report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Westlake revealed that in 2025, Americans suffered over $21 billion in losses due to various types of fraud, a dramatic 26% increase from the previous year. She admitted that the actual losses may be much higher than the reported figures because many victims often choose not to report the incidents due to feelings of shame, lack of clarity on reporting channels, or a mindset of “paying for a lesson”, leading to significant hidden victimization.
Among the common fraud channels, voice phishing (vishing), phishing, and text message scams are the most prevalent. Westlake specifically warned the public to “never trust caller ID displays” because scam groups can easily manipulate incoming calls through spoofing techniques, changing the display to appear as from government entities like the IRS or SSA.
She emphasized that legitimate government agencies will never threaten immediate payments over the phone, nor ask for gift cards or transfers via cryptocurrency ATMs. When receiving intimidating messages about “owing taxes” or “arrest warrants”, individuals should not directly call back the provided number but verify through the official phone numbers on the government websites. In the case of suspicious calls, people should not continue the conversation out of politeness but hang up directly.
Apart from phone scams, phishing through emails has also become harder to detect due to AI technology. Westlake pointed out that traditional phishing emails often had grammar errors or incoherent sentences, but scammers now use AI to craft remarkably fluent and professional content, perfectly replicating the official logos of well-known companies such as PayPal, Amazon, and Apple.
If people receive messages about “unusual account deductions” or “credit card notifications”, they should not click any links in emails or texts but instead open official apps or log into the websites to check. Westlake warned that the ultimate goal of fraudsters is to obtain personal identity information (PII) or induce transfers, and the more interaction individuals have, the higher the risk of exposing personal data. If there are doubts about financial services or institutions, using consumer information and cryptocurrency fraud tracking resources provided by DFPI for inquiries is recommended.