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The internet has been in crisis for the past two weeks, after visitors to an immersive Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow found themselves in a dilapidated warehouse decked out with half-hearted decorations and embarrassed actors in “pound shop” costumes.
It’s easy to see the funny side, but attendees had shelled out £35 a head to attend, only to discover that what had been advertised as a “chocolate fantasy”, saw some of their children handing out only a jelly bean and a third of a cup of lemonade.
In reality, they discovered that they had been tricked into attending an event that didn’t even have enough chocolate for the guests and ended up with a call to the police.
The disastrous Glasgow event was billed as a ‘chocolate fantasy’ according to promotional material
Part of the reason for the event’s failure was that the event announcements and even the actors’ scripts were generated using artificial intelligence.
No doubt the organizers used this to make the event look much more professional than it was, but you only needed to scratch the surface to realize that the ads were full of errors and the scripts made no sense.
Scammers are also increasingly using AI, and often in much more sophisticated ways, which means it’s important to be able to spot the signs.
Laura Hendry Parsons, privacy advocate at internet security firm ExpressVPN, said: “While we’ve seen fake ads and deepfake images and videos before, recent advances in AI tools combined with their ease of access have generated incredibly realistic videos and videos. Images can now be created that look like almost identical versions of the real thing.’
We asked two experts how to spot the signs of an AI-generated scam and avoid falling into its trap.
The devil is in the details
At first, an AI image may look normal, or even realistic, but if you pay attention to the finer details, you may start to notice that things don’t look quite right.
Joe Davies, founder of marketing agency FatJoe, recommends that your first port of call is to inspect images of people or animals.
‘Pay close attention to your fingers. You may see extra, missing toes, abnormally long or short toes, unnatural curves, or blending toes,” she says.
“Other small features such as ears, eyes and toes may also be distorted. Odd body proportions are another red flag for AI involvement.
Faces, in particular, are difficult for AI to replicate accurately, says Hendry Parsons.
“Some visual cues include a poor match of facial features, such as inconsistencies in skin tone, shadows, or even blurred and distorted areas of the face,” he added.
Similarly, ordinary objects will often appear in strange positions or distorted: “AI may place a pen upside down in a hand, or you’ll see a spoon floating above a bowl of soup,” he says.
“Jewellery is another small detail that the AI can get wrong, like earrings that don’t match or rings that don’t cover the entire finger,” Davies added.
Joe Davies says AI detection tools can be used to remove AI ads
Backgrounds and lighting can be a gift
When it comes to funds, “AI can get lazy,” Davies said.
‘The text in the background may look good at first glance, but upon closer inspection you will discover that it is complete gibberish.
‘Patterns on backgrounds, such as wallpaper or tile floors, can also give away AI. These may begin to repeat themselves unnaturally or abruptly change patterns for no reason. This happens because AI has a hard time understanding continuity.”
The AI may also struggle to create accurate shadows, with dark spots not corresponding to light sources in the image, or a person’s face appearing brightly lit despite an otherwise dark setting.
Davies added that texture can also be difficult, with human skin appearing too soft, hair as a single mass rather than individual strands, and fabrics not flowing naturally.
Writing is not AI’s strong suit
Another sign that an advertisement or communication is false is seeing many errors in the writing.
Punters at the Wonka event were greeted by a drab warehouse equipped with scattered decorations, nothing like the AI-generated advertisement.
“Unfortunately, AI can empower bad actors by lowering the barrier to entry for creating high-level fraudulent content, but although AI text generation has developed to incredible levels in the last year, the technology is still prone to mistakes,” Hendry Parsons said. Money.
‘Fortunately, this can sometimes give the game away and reveal that the ad is a scam. People should be on the lookout for simple mistakes, whether they are misspellings, unusual phrasing, or a tone of voice that isn’t seen in a typical ad.
“This could alert you to the fact that the ad is actually a scam and has been created by a computer to imitate a real brand.”
Taking the time to scroll to the bottom of the ‘Willy’s Chocolate Experience’ website would have revealed a promotional image promising ‘Catgacating’. Live performances. Carchy tunes, exarserdray lollipops, a passage of sweet nipples.
By stopping to read the advertisement, it may have become clear to visitors that they were not willing to receive the ‘Encherining Entertainment’ advertised.
How can I check if the ad is a scam?
If the ad does not appear on any conventional website, or is on a website with an unusual URL and many pop-up ads and links, the warning lights should be flashing.
To check, Hendry Parsons suggests a reverse image search, especially if something seems too good to be true.
“To the untrained eye, these ads often look safe, but by performing a reverse image search it is possible to see if the ad, and particularly the image it contains, has appeared elsewhere or on more prominent sites, meaning that it is more likely to be genuine.’ She said.
FatJoe’s Davies added that AI detection tools, such as ‘Is it AI?’ and ‘AI or not’ can be used to verify online content.
“These tools use sophisticated algorithms to look for inconsistencies and revelations typical of AI creations,” he says. “However, they are not infallible, so don’t take the result as one hundred percent fact.”
The fake immersive experience sought to capitalize on the success of ‘Wonka’ starring Timothee Chalamet
What can I do if I think I have been scammed?
Even if you take precautions, you may still fall for a scam.
If you paid for something you don’t believe to be genuine, or if you gave your personal or credit card details to someone you don’t think should have, there are still ways to get your money back.
“Immediately call your bank or credit card provider’s fraud number and report that a scam has occurred,” Hendry Parsons told This is Money. “If it’s a third-party payment app, such as PayPal, contact them immediately as well – this will increase your chances of getting your money back.”
“If you have entered account information on the fake site, such as your email address or banking details, change the passwords for the accounts in question as soon as possible and enable two-factor authentication to ensure that no one else can access these accounts “.
He added that the scam should be reported to the police or Action Fraud.
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