New email scam demands money using personal info, pictures of victims homes WSOC TV [Video]

CHARLOTTE — More people are receiving emails demanding money, containing pictures of their homes and personal information about them, and they’re wondering if they’re real.

Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke found the new emails look much more realistic than some he’s seen in the past. That’s likely because criminals are now using artificial intelligence programs like ChatGPT.

Not only does AI make it harder to spot a scam, but it also lets criminals crank out the emails even faster.

Lonnie Ross told WSB-TV in Atlanta that it’s not so much what the email he received said, but what it included.

“So it had my phone number, my address, email, my name,” he said. “And what really got me, they took a picture of my mailbox.”

His mailbox and his yard were in the photo as proof, apparently, that someone had his personal information.

“You just don’t know,” Ross told WSB.

People nationwide report getting emails like that one …