With artificial intelligence advancing at breakneck speed, the promise of innovation is increasingly shadowed by the perils of deception. From deepfake CEOs to algorithmic investment scams that may vanish overnight, AI-powered hustles are multiplying.
According to an FBI public service announcement, technology is increasingly being exploited to facilitate investment scams.
Against this backdrop, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) Office of Customer Education and Outreach (OCEO) has issued a new advisory warning investors and market participants about fraudulent actors leveraging AI tools to lure victims into bogus trading opportunities.
OCEO advisory
The OCEO advisory notes that criminals are using generative AI tools to refine digital content and optimize site functionality, designing malicious websites that mimic legitimate financial trading platforms.
The technology allows for the correction of grammatical or spelling errors that used to trigger suspicion, which makes fraudulent content appear more credible than ever before. Foreign-based fraudsters frequently target US residents in their criminal schemes. Chatbots driven by AI may give scams a veneer of credibility and encourage users to follow malicious links.
The OCEO advisory also describes how perpetrators can utilize AI to fake government and financial documents, as well as fabricate social media profiles. Criminals apply generative AI to create fake images, voices, and videos to share with targeted victims during personal communications as false proof of identity. Advancements in technology now make it possible to manipulate real-time video chats.
“Fraudsters can use new technologies to mask their identities, not only in still photographs, say, in social media profiles, but also in video chats that alter their facial features and voices to match,” said OCEO Director Melanie Devoe. “Identifying real from fake can be difficult. The best defense is to never give money to people you only meet online.”
The CFTC outlines specific steps individuals can take to safeguard themselves. Users can detect fraud by spotting inconsistent details in communications, such as distorted hands or other irregularities in images and video, as well as unnatural vocal inflections in audio.
The advisory urges the public to limit what they share online, avoid sending digital assets to unverified contacts, protect sensitive information, and report fraud to authorities such as the CFTC and FBI to help prevent further harm.
CFTC’s advisory efforts
In recent months, the CFTC has stepped up its advisory activity, issuing a flurry of alerts addressing the growing intersection of financial markets, internet technologies, and artificial intelligence.
This uptick is no coincidence. The CFTC, traditionally focused on derivative markets and commodity trading, now finds itself increasingly acting as a frontline defender against cyber-enabled financial deception.
The agency’s recent advisories signal a broader shift in regulatory posture, acknowledging that financial crime is evolving from niche schemes to technology-driven threats embedded in mainstream digital activity.
While CFTC’s advisories are aimed at individual investors, businesses operating in the financial sector would do well to treat them as strategic signals. These alerts often reveal the Commission’s evolving priorities and its interpretation of systemic risks posed by emerging technologies. More importantly, they offer tools that can help businesses reinforce the financial literacy and digital resilience of their clients.
In an environment where trust is easily eroded by misinformation and manipulation, aligning with such regulatory insights can serve as both a risk mitigation strategy and a competitive advantage.
