{
  "id": 16946757,
  "title": "‘It’s very effective’: Impersonation scams aided by artificial intelligence on the rise, police detective says",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/28/its-very-effective-impersonation-scams-aided-by-artificial",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-28T19:45:45.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "CityNews",
    "slug": "citynews",
    "url": "https://toronto.citynews.ca/2026/10/28/its-very-effective-impersonation-scams-aided-by-artificial-intelligence-on-the-rise-tps-detective-says/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Artificial intelligence is being used by scammers to carry out increasingly convincing impersonation scams in Toronto, according to a detective from the city's Financial Crimes Unit. In the first half of 2024, the Toronto Police Service has recorded around 17,000 fraud reports, with one in six of these being impersonation scams where suspects pose as representatives from legitimate organizations. Since mid-October, over $50 million has been stolen due to these scams.\n\nDet. David Coffey highlighted that these scams are the most prevalent type of fraud the police are seeing and have a wide range of forms. He emphasized that this type of scam is devastating for individuals as criminals acquire personal information such as names, bank details, and even the last four digits of a bank card to convince victims to withdraw their money.\n\nThe scams typically induce fear and urgency in victims, which the criminals exploit for their advantage. \"They are getting people into an emotional state using social engineering, and then they provide themselves as the answer to that panic and that emergency,\" Coffey explained. \"It's emotions that they target in these people and it's very effective.\"\n\nIn such situations, fear can be beneficial. \"If you receive a phone call and you're immediately fearful and panicking because of what somebody is telling you, the most important thing for people to do is pause, recognize the urgency as a red flag,\" Coffey advised. \"Urgency to me means slow down, it doesn't mean speed up — pause, hang up the phone and then do your own verification, don't let the caller do the verification for you because they are obviously going to verify it themselves. So, hang up, disconnect, call the bank, call the police, call whatever industry has reached out to you to verify it independently.\"",
  "summary": "Impersonation scams are on the rise and culprits are utilizing artificial intelligence to more convincingly dupe victims, a detective with the Toronto Police Service’s Financial Crimes Unit told Breakfast Television on Wednesday. Det. David Coffey says so far this year TPS has received around 17,000 fraud reports and one in six are now impersonation scams […]",
  "key_points": [
    "AI aids convincing impersonation scams in Toronto, police report",
    "Over $50 million stolen in scams since mid-October",
    "Scammers exploit fear and urgency through social engineering"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}