AI-Driven Scams Are Targeting Your Marketing Channels—Here’s How to Fight Back

Safeguarding Your Marketing Channels: How AI-Powered Automation Is Fueling New Threats and How to Defend Against Them

AI-powered automation is changing the way scammers operate, making marketing channels more vulnerable than ever. While it’s crucial not to provide a guide for malicious actors, recognizing how AI enhances scams is essential for marketers. Most scams still revolve around money—either through direct theft or by collecting personal data that leads to financial fraud. Without a financial motive, scams tend not to persist.

Take eCommerce as an example. Scammers clone legitimate websites to trick customers into giving up payment details. These fake sites can look exactly like the real ones. The rise of no-code and low-code tools means scammers can build convincing fake stores quickly—sometimes within hours—and start stealing credit card info right away.

In sectors like financial services, AI is being used to make scams more believable. Voice cloning combined with scripts from large language models (LLMs) enables scammers to impersonate sales or customer service calls. The voices can be nearly indistinguishable from real representatives, making it harder for even experienced professionals to detect fraud.

How Companies Can Defend Themselves Against These Attacks

Relying on large platforms to protect your brand isn’t enough. These platforms often function as black boxes when it comes to customer service and enforcement. For example, AI-generated content that misrepresents brands can flood search results, a practice Google calls “scaled content abuse.” Although platforms claim to address these issues, their response tends to be slow and difficult to engage with.

Because of this, defending your marketing channels requires a hands-on approach. Here are some practical steps:

Start with Monitoring

You can’t protect what you don’t see. Build or invest in systems that monitor your brand in real time. This includes tracking fake websites, impersonating social profiles, fake reviews, copyright violations, and unusual search results. Tools like Red Points can help, but even simple solutions like Google Alerts and social listening tools provide value.

Have a Response Plan

When you detect a scam or impersonation, you need a clear, repeatable process to respond quickly. This might involve submitting takedown requests to hosting providers, social media platforms, or domain registrars. The faster you remove the scam infrastructure, the harder it becomes for attackers to succeed.

Educate Your Customers

Make sure your customers know how you communicate. Remind them of your official email domains and social media handles, highlighting verified accounts with blue check marks. When customers recognize your authentic communication style, they’re less likely to fall for fake emails or messages from lookalike addresses.

Lessons Learned from Facing These Attacks Firsthand

• Automated threats can feel relentless. A single attack can generate hundreds of fake pages, listings, and articles within weeks. The goal is often to trap a few customers, but the volume can overwhelm your defenses. Protecting your brand against scams is an ongoing effort.
• Internal capabilities matter. Relying solely on external vendors slows response times and dilutes accountability. Bringing expertise in-house improves speed and helps recognize early warning signs more effectively.
• Transparency builds trust. Customers expect attacks to happen but don’t always understand why companies stay silent during incidents. Communicate openly about what’s going on and the steps you’re taking, even when situations are difficult.

What Companies Should Avoid Doing

Brand attacks can feel personal, but knee-jerk reactions often make things worse. Avoid sending legal threats to everyone reposting fake content or ignoring problems altogether. Also, don’t treat this as a one-time issue. As AI lowers the barrier for scams, you can expect attacks to increase and repeat.

A Final Takeaway

There’s no perfect fix. Scammers adapt as quickly as technology changes. Being proactive—through monitoring, customer education, and building internal defenses—helps protect your brand and customers. But aiming to eliminate threats completely may set unrealistic expectations.

Investing time and resources into building internal expertise speeds up your response and improves collaboration with trusted partners. Speaking the same language internally and externally is a clear advantage in this ongoing battle.