WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ahead of the holiday season, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, issued a warning to seniors at risk of harmful cyber-attacks during a hearing on protecting consumers from artificial intelligence (AI) enabled fraud and scams:

Click here to watch the full hearing and here to download Senator Blackburn’s remarks.

Senior Citizens Are Targeted Most Frequently by AI Scams

“Older Americans are the ones who have been hit most frequently with this, as an emerging threat. Now, the fraudsters that are utilizing AI to deceive consumers have gotten crafty when it comes to creating these highly personalized and convincing attacks. What is surprising to a lot of people is the fact that they are doing this at scale… These attacks have become very realistic. The spear phishing emails that really use a lot of this, make it appear that it's coming from a trusted source. And adding to this, the chat box, which make it appear that you are having an actual real-time conversation with someone, is very disarming… The use of these tools by the scammers are becoming more prevalent, they're becoming more precise, more widespread, and harder to attack.”

Artificial Intelligence Scams Are Putting Tennesseans at Risk

“In Tennessee, I say we've got the good, bad, and ugly relationship with AI. A lot of our manufacturers, people that are working in healthcare, predictive diagnoses, disease analysis, logistics, they are utilizing AI every day, to achieve efficiencies… The ugly is really what is happening to people with these scams, and with these frauds, and especially when it comes to senior citizens… The FTC with the Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book listed that scams increased a billion dollars over the last 12 months to $10 billion. This is what it's costing… We know AI is what is driving a lot of this. It is a technology that is advancing so incredibly fast, and of course legislation never keeps pace with technology.”

Blackburn Says Congress Must Advance Legislation to Protect Citizens in the Virtual Space and Strengthen Privacy  

“Consumers need to be armed with knowledge about what is happening here and… we know that it is also going to require that we move forward with having an actual online privacy standard, which we've never passed… It is going to require that we take those actions, [and] we're really thrilled to have you all before us today. It helps to inform not only our committee, our subcommittee, informs our colleagues, and builds into the record for the need to move forward on legislation that will enhance the privacy, and help to protect our citizens in the virtual space.”

• Blackburn, Cantwell, Heinrich Introduce Legislation to Combat AI Deepfakes & Put Journalists, Artists & Songwriters Back in Control of Their Content

• Blackburn, Coons, Tillis, Klobuchar Announce Draft of Bill to Protect Voice and Likeness of Individuals from AI-Generated Replicas

Senator Blackburn has previously introduced the COPIED Act and the NO FAKES Act to combat the negative harms caused by AI and hold violators accountable for abuses.