Bitdefender, the global cybersecurity firm, has launched a free, web-based scam detection tool called Scamio.

In today’s modern, interconnected world, there’s always a new scam to be aware of, and it is increasingly difficult to keep track of them all. That’s where Scamio comes in. A user can open a conversation with the artificial intelligence (AI) tool and get real-time feedback on whether something is a scam.

How does the AI scam detector Scamio work?

There are three ways users can input data into Scamio:

• Text – users can either paste in text from the suspicious source to get feedback from Scamio, or treat Scamio like any other AI and describe the threat conversationally.
• Check an image – users can paste images into Scamio to have them checked. This could be a dodgy QR code that Scamio will scan for you, or a picture of a text message or email that it will read.
• Check a link – users can paste in a dodgy link, including links from URL shorteners, and Scamio will determine whether they are trustworthy or not.

Scamio will analyze the data users provide and let them know whether they are being scammed or not, all within the web browser, or even through a Facebook Messenger chat with the AI. It’s completely free, all users need is a Bitdefender account.

Will people trust Scamio?

There are so many scams out there, particularly those that target vulnerable people, that folk might be understandably suspicious of an AI scam detector. The reputation that other AI chatbots such as ChatGPT have for getting things wrong could be offputting, alongside reports of people using AI in their scams.

However, Bitdefender is an extremely reputable cybersecurity company that has been around since 2001. They have over 20 years of data to use to train their AI and ensure it has the best chance of success. As it is web-based and does not require a download of any kind, it is safe to use and better than blindly trusting suspicious links.

Featured image credit: Marc Mueller/Pexels

Ali Rees

Ali Rees is a freelance journalist and mature student based in Scotland.