The DSR Network Siliconsciousness: The Epidemic in Deepfake Financial Scams and Potential Cures
Apr 3, 2026
Alice Marwick, research director at Data & Society who studies online deception, and Anya Shiffrin, Columbia SIPA policy expert on AI-enabled scams, unpack AI-driven financial fraud. They explore deepfakes beyond video, how scams are personalized and scaled, platforms’ roles in the scam pipeline, regulatory duty-of-care ideas, reporting gaps, and simple steps people can take to avoid being duped.
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Midnight Boss Email Nearly Cost A Friend Gift Cards
- Real-world victims include colleagues and experts who almost fell for scams like midnight boss-emails or tax threats.
- Anya Schiffrin recounts a friend receiving a midnight email from their boss asking to buy gift cards.
Scams Exploit Emotional Moments And LLM Persuasion
- Scammers exploit emotional vulnerability and panic to bypass rational checks.
- Alice Marwick explains scammers trigger fear (taxes, arrest) or loneliness so victims stop thinking logically while LLMs craft persuasive responses.
Scam Operations Function As Global Criminal Pipelines
- The scam ecosystem is a pipeline: creators, marketers (notably social ads), outreach, collection, and laundering.
- Anya Schiffrin highlights Facebook ad revenue tied to scams and laundering by international crime groups.