AI scams have left a quarter of UK adults overwhelmed as fraudsters clone voices and fake identities at huge scale

From the Newshound archive · first published 30 September 2026 · last updated 1 October 2026.

National Trading Standards warns that AI is not creating new fraud but "supercharging" existing scams, making shopping, holiday, investment and romance fraud more convincing and personalised than ever. The body has launched an AI Scam Watchlist after a poll of 2,000 adults found nearly one in five now avoid certain online activities over scam fears. Frank Abagnale, the real-life con man behind 'Catch Me If You Can', told a Washington conference this week that today's criminals have tools he could only have dreamed of.

NTS chairman Lord Michael Bichard warns AI lets criminals run convincing scams 'at huge speed and scale' with little technical skill.

The five biggest concerns are fake websites, voice cloning, deepfake video, AI-generated product images, and fake social media personas that interact in real time.

Abagnale says stolen data from old breaches stays dangerous for years when combined with new AI tools — and urges everyone to verify independently before trusting any call or message.