In a press conference held at the PJ headquarters in Lisbon, criminal investigation coordinator José Ribeiro from the National Unit for Combating Cybercrime and Technological Crime (UNC3T) highlighted the use of artificial intelligence techniques by foreign criminal networks to spread this campaign, which has already resulted in “an unusual number of complaints” to the institution.
“At this moment, our concern lies with a current campaign in which thousands of phone calls have been massively distributed, resulting in an unusual number of complaints. Just last weekend, we received more than a hundred,” said the official, assuring that the PJ is “working together with operators” to identify these spoofing techniques (identity falsification to obtain data).
According to José Ribeiro, the PJ has opened approximately 2,000 inquiries since the beginning of the year related to various types of computer scams, such as the ‘hello dad, hello mom’ campaigns. However, he emphasized the evolution of these criminal schemes and assured that the PJ has already developed “some techniques to identify threats,” but admitted that “it is complicated to anticipate behaviors” in this matter.
“The concern with these techniques is the massive way in which campaigns are spread and can have direct contact with victims, in an almost individualized approach. They are developing individualized patterns of attack and fraud, conducting profile analysis and using artificial intelligence. At this moment, they are developing targeted techniques, and this case is frightening because it will bring us increased difficulties,” he stressed.
