Artificial intelligence has made everyday tools smarter — and attackers smarter too. Between 2023 and 2025 the cyber threat landscape shifted from noisy, blunt-force scams to quieter, highly personalized attacks powered by generative AI. This post explains what’s happening now (2026), shows recent trends and real Indian examples, and gives practical, age-appropriate advice for students, parents, kids, and the general public.

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1. Quick snapshot: how things changed (2023 → 2025)

AI-powered tactics (deepfakes, automated phishing, social impersonation) became a meaningful share of successful frauds and scams. Law-enforcement and industry reports in 2024–25 flagged a rapid rise in AI-enabled scams and warned these are harder to detect.

Phishing volumes spiked in early 2025 to levels not seen since late 2023; financial sector targeting grew meaningfully.

India recorded very large increases in overall attack volume and reporting in 2024–25: national reports and security vendors tracked millions of incidents and a surge in helpline calls and fraud reporting — with large sums still lost but recovery and rapid-reporting successes increasing too.

(Those are the big-picture, recent facts you should trust when planning awareness and prevention.)

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2. Today’s common AI-enabled attacks (with short examples)

Deepfake voice/video frauds

AI can synthesize a person’s voice or face from short clips. Attackers create plausible “urgent” calls or video messages to trick victims into transfers or sharing sensitive data. Indian example: In 2023–2024 several high-value frauds used cloned voices of company executives to authorize transfers; victims lost crores before the fraud was detected. Rapid reporting helped recover some funds.

AI-driven phishing & BEC (Business Email Compromise)

Generative models write near-flawless, personalized emails or messages that mimic tone and context. When combined with data-scraping, these messages can be timed around real events (exam admissions, payroll cycles, result days). Example: Students receiving “official” scholarship or admission emails that lead to credential/Aadhaar/UPI theft — these were noted across states during peak admission windows.

Social media and identity cloning

AI tools stitch public posts to build fake social profiles or write messages in a victim’s voice — then ask contacts for money or links. Professionals and students both have been targeted via WhatsApp/Instagram impersonations.

Automated, adaptive malware and scanning

AI helps attackers probe systems at scale, adapt payloads, and craft social engineering hooks based on observed behavior. Security vendors and CERTs reported more automated, adaptive campaigns in 2024–25.

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3. Statistics (last three years — concise, actionable view)

Note: these figures summarize multiple public reports from 2023–2025 and highlight trends rather than a single dataset.

Phishing surged again in 2024–25 with record quarterly volumes in early 2025. Financial-sector-targeted phishing made up a large slice of those attacks.

India saw massive reporting growth 2022–2025 (for example, helpline 1930 call volumes rose dramatically in some states), while national cyber incident counts reached hundreds of millions of probes/attacks in vendor reports for 2025.

Global industry surveys in 2024–25 found most organizations expect AI to change cybersecurity within 12 months, yet only a minority had safe-AI processes ready — a gap attackers exploit.

If you want, I can pull exact numeric tables (per quarter) from specific reports (APWG, DSCI/Seqrite, Europol) and produce a small infographic or CSV.

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4. What AI can figure out about you (and where it gets that info)

AI models themselves aren’t “seeing” you — attackers feed them data. Common sources and what they reveal:

Social media & public profiles: friends, hobbies, locations, education, recent photos, voice clips from videos. Useful for impersonation and targeted persuasion.

Data leaks & purchased lists: email+password pairs, phone numbers, addresses — used to seed credential stuffing and personalized attacks.

Public records and institutional websites: enrollment lists, staff directories, alumni pages — these help craft believable “official” messages.

Behavioral signals: time of activity, common phrases you use online, payment habits (observed from public posts) — AI uses these to time attacks when you’re most likely to respond.

Voice/video samples: short clips (even from reels or public speeches) let deepfake models recreate a voice or face.

Short version: anything public, leaked, or shared in groups can be stitched together by AI to make a convincing attack.

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5. Predictive AI-based attacks — what they look like and examples

Predictive attacks are those that use AI to model and anticipate who will be vulnerable, when, and how.

Timed scholarship/admissions scams: AI scans university calendars, social posts about applications, and targets students right after deadline announcements with fake “portal” links. (Seen during 2023–25 admission seasons.)

Exam-result and placement-targeted frauds: AI identifies stress windows (result days, placement weeks) and sends “HR confirmation” or “recheck fee” messages. Police reported spikes around placement cycles.

Voice-based CEO-fraud with timing: AI clones a manager’s voice and calls finance during expected payment windows to approve transfers. Some Indian recovery cases showed rapid reporting prevented bigger losses.

Why predictive attacks are dangerous: they combine accurate context (calendar + personal data) with strong social pressure — urgency, authority, or opportunity — which humans respond to.

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6. How this affects different groups (students, kids, parents, general public)

Students

High social-media activity and frequent official-looking notices (scholarships, internships) make students prime targets. Advice: use a separate email for institutional communication, verify official links manually, and never share OTPs.

Kids

Kids can be manipulated by games, fake friend requests, or deepfake videos. They are also more likely to accept requests or click unknown links. Advice for parents: enforce parental controls, keep accounts private, teach "ask first" rules for friend requests and in-game trades.

Parents

Targets for “emergency” deepfake calls impersonating children or relatives. Also targeted for investment/scheme scams. Advice: verify identity with a second channel (call a known number), teach children not to share voice notes or private photos publicly.

General public

Regular users face AI-phishing, SMS/UPI scams, and impersonation. Elderly users are often targeted because they may be less familiar with UPI/OTP protocols. Advice: use 2FA, avoid UPI approvals for unknown requests, and report suspicious messages quickly.

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7. Practical, human-friendly preventive tips (easy to use)

Basic hygiene (everyone) Pause before you act. Scammers count on panic. Never share OTPs, PINs, or full Aadhaar/ID copies. No legitimate institution will ask for OTP. Use two-factor authentication (authenticator apps are better than SMS). Keep software updated (phone, apps, browser). Updates patch vulnerabilities attackers exploit. Use unique passwords (a password manager helps).

For students & young adults Use an institutional email for college/university business only. Disable automatic sharing of location and voice snippets in public stories. Treat unsolicited “scholarship” and “internship” links with suspicion — verify via college placement offices.

For parents & kids Teach kids to ask a trusted adult before clicking links or accepting new contacts. Keep family digital emergency protocols: if anyone asks for money urgently, do an out-of-band check (call the person on their known number). Limit what kids post publicly (no voice clips or home videos with identifying details).

For the workplace / staff handling money Require two-person verification for payments above a threshold. Verify payment approvals via a known channel (e.g., email + phone call). Train staff on social engineering and simulated phishing tests.

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8. If you think you’ve been targeted or scammed — what to do now

Stop all communication with the suspected attacker. Preserve evidence (screenshots, message IDs, call logs). Immediately inform your bank or payment provider if money was requested or transferred. Report to local cyber police / national cybercrime portal and file an FIR if money was lost. In India, report via cybercrime.gov.in or local cyber police. Rapid reporting can sometimes freeze transactions. Change passwords and 2FA on any affected accounts. Tell friends & family if the attacker used your identity so they can ignore suspicious messages.

9. A short checklist you can print or share

Verify: Did I expect this? Pause: Wait 5 minutes; don’t react immediately. Confirm: Call a known number or use an official site (not a link in the message). Protect: Don’t share OTP/Pin. Use 2FA. Update apps. Report: Contact bank and report to cybercrime portal if money or data is exposed.

10. Final words — balanced view

AI is a tool. It makes both attacks and defenses more effective. Between 2023 and 2025 we saw attackers scale with AI, but we also saw defenders, police, and the public improve reporting and recoveries. Your strongest advantage is not technical alone — it’s the habit of stopping, checking, and verifying. Teach that habit at home, at college, and among friends.