Cyber Crime

Cyber Crime

Good morning,

West Midlands Police report that cyber-enabled fraud now accounts for 89% of reported cases, driven by the convergence of Fraud-as-a-Service (FaaS) and generative AI. This combination allows low-level criminals to easily create sophisticated, hyper-realistic scams on mainstream social media platforms. The force urges residents to abandon visual checks for typos and instead use "out-of-band" verification, such as calling back individuals on trusted numbers, to combat deepfake and AI-driven phishing attacks. You can learn more about these threats on the West Midlands Police website.

Actively combating a sharp rise in cyber-enabled fraud, which now accounts for roughly 89% of all fraud cases reported across the West Midlands region. Detectives from the WMP Cyber Crime Unit have issued stark warnings regarding the convergence of Generative AI and Fraud-as-a-Service (FaaS), which has lowered the technical barrier for criminals and significantly "normalized" cybercrime on mainstream messaging and social media platforms.

The force highlights how these two modern tech phenomena are transforming local threat landscapes:

1. Fraud-as-a-Service (FaaS)

FaaS allows highly skilled hackers to commoditize their illicit tools and sell them to low-level, non-technical criminals. Instead of needing complex programming knowledge, scammers can purchase turnkey packages with a single click.

Mainstream Proliferation: WMP digital forensics specialists note that FaaS is increasingly migrating away from the Dark Web onto accessible, everyday encrypted messaging platforms and open social spaces.

"Informal Economy" Scams: Local networks use pre-harvested data packs to run FaaS scams—such as posing as benevolent "Robin Hood" characters on social media to offer heavily discounted supermarket grocery baskets or energy bills bought using stolen details, heavily targeting struggling families.

2. Generative AI "Supercharging" Scams

Generative AI allows scammers to build flawless, automated social engineering frameworks. The primary indicators that West Midlands Police urge residents to watch out for include:

Hyper-Realistic Phishing: AI eliminates spelling errors, strange grammar, and unnatural phrasing from phishing emails and texts, making them indistinguishable from official corporate or government communications.

Voice Cloning & Deepfakes: Criminals are utilizing generative audio to clone the voices of family members or trusted corporate leaders. This is used in "Emergency/Grandparent scams," where a voice note or call urgently requests funds.

Synthetic Celebrity Endorsements: AI-generated video clones of financial figures (like Martin Lewis) are actively deployed on local social media feeds to peddle bogus cryptocurrency and get-rich-quick investment schemes.

Core Defence & Reporting

Because generative AI can effortlessly bypass legacy visual and textual cues, WMP advises the public to shift from trying to "spot a fake text" to strictly verifying the communication channel:

The "Out-of-Band" Check: If an employer, family member, or bank contacts you unexpectedly via an AI voice or text asking for money, hang up. Contact them back directly using a known, trusted phone number—never the one that called you.

Report Instantly: Forward suspicious text messages to 7726 (a free UK-wide spam reporting service) and report scam emails to the National Cyber Security Centre at report@phishing.gov.uk.

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Message Sent By
Rebecca Bickmore-Green
(West Midlands Police - Wolverhampton, PCSO, Wolverhampton - Wednesfield & Heath Town)