Phone Fraud: Modern Threats and Challenges

Widespread introduction of information-communication technologies in all spheres of public life led to a rise in digital, or hi-tech, crime. Statistical data on crime shows that the number of crimes committed with the use of information-communication technologies is growing year by year, which proves the relevance of this research topic, points to an unfavorable criminological forecast and requires the development of effective prevention measures aimed at eliminating and minimizing the determinants of these unlawful actions. The authors examine one of such crimes committed using information-telecommunication technologies — the crime of phone fraud. They discuss the terminological uncertainty regarding the term under consideration in legal research discourse and present a criminological interpretation of the existing definitions. According to the authors, phone fraud presupposes a purposeful influence of the criminal on the emotional-volition sphere of the victim through techniques of social engineering as an aggregate of psychological and linguistic means of manipulating the potential victim in order to achieve the criminal goal. Special attention is paid to describing the techniques of social engineering used in such unlawful actions. It is established that the two most popular techniques are an algorithm (pretext) and phishing. The authors analyze artificial intelligence technologies involved in criminal fraud activities; they present a complex of measures of general social, special criminological, individual prevention of phone fraud by using neural networks, which are aimed at minimizing and eliminating the criminal threats of generative artificial intelligence. The authors draw conclusions regarding the prospects of a symbiosis between artificial and natural intelligence for a most effective counteraction of criminal infringements committed by phone fraudsters, where the leading role is played by the human mind.