[janusz]

A UK newspaper article on Re:scam

Thousands of online scammers around the globe are being fooled by artificial intelligence bots posing as New Zealanders and created by the country’s internet watchdog.

So far, the longest exchange between a scammer and a chatbot pretending to be a New Zealander was 20 emails long.

Netsafe had designed a bot that was as convincing and long-winded as possible, asking scammers a seemingly never-ending series of benign questions.

“Dear Illuminati, what a wonderful surprise,” wrote a Re:scam chatbot responding to a scammer offering $5m.

“I’d love to join your secret club. Do you do a bingo night?”

“There is not bingo night,” replied the scammer.

“Please complete attached form with bank details for your recieve full payments of 5 million.”

“Terrific!” replied the Re:scam chatbot.

“But to avoid detection I am going to send my bank details through one number at a time. Ready? 4...”

“That is not nessasary,” replied the scammer.

“7” said the bot.