FBI warns of shopping scams this holiday season [Video]

SAN DIEGO — This is the time of year when shoppers are hunting for deals with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. But the FBI is warning that criminals are also looking for people to scam. 

“The pressure to buy something without doing any research is very high,” said Paul Keener, Cyber Security Strategist.

Keener is a Cyber Security Strategist with GuidePoint and says Artificial Intelligence has become a powerful new tool for criminals to exploit consumers.

“Generative AI makes it a lot easier to create very realistic social media advertisements that look like they’re coming from legitimate retailers,” said Keener. 

“Which once you click on them you go thru to a fake website where they’re trying to steal money, trying to steal your credentials.” 

From October through December of last year, the Federal Trade Commissionsays consumers loss more than $95 million dollars in shopping …