Potential Fraud Use of ChatGPT

Fraud Prevention

Mark Gardiner, CPA, CFE, Partner

ChatGPT was launched on November 30, 2022 by OpenAI.  At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2023 it took the technology world by storm. Cybercriminals, fraudsters, high school and college students started using it to their advantage.  ChatGPT was now being used to do students homework, including writing papers.  Cybercriminals and Fraudsters began using it to create various scams, including:

  • Phishing emails
  • Creation of malware and viruses
  • For production of ransomware
  • To steal personally identifiable information
  • Deepfakes with voice impersonations
  • And even romance fraud

These are just a few of the various scams ChatGPT is capable of creating.  Matter of fact, the U.S.-Israeli cybersecurity company called CheckPoint noticed a spike in dark web messaging when ChatGPT was introduced.  

     The GPT in ChatGPT stands for Generative Pretrained Transformer, it has been trained on an abundant amount of data to generate human-like responses for a wide range of prompts and questions.  It is capable of performing a wide array of tasks, including:

  • Completing sentences and paragraphs.  This allows individuals to write more efficiently.
  • Conversing
  • Generating text.  For example, it can write a story or a poem.
  • Answer questions

ChatGPT acquires knowledge as it evolves, drawing insights from a diverse range of resources in the process, including Wikipedia, news articles and scientific journals.  ChatGPT is constantly evolving and updating, because it learns as it develops content. 

     How can we use ChatGPT to help combat fraud? 

  • We can ask ChatGPT on ways to commit fraud and the various steps to prevent these particular frauds.
  • Steps for internal and external auditors to incorporate into their audit plans to detect fraud during their audits. 
  • Ask it for current fraud trends and how to protect ourselves against them.
  • We can ask ChatGPT for help with creating a fraud awareness training session.

Just as cybercriminals will use ChatGPT to create fraudulent schemes, we can use ChatGPT to combat fraud and develop tactics to fight it.

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