Scams are not a new phenomenon. But generative AI is making scamming even easier, faster, and more accessible, fueling a surge in scams and misinformation at a global scale. This primer maps what we currently know about generative AI’s role in scams, the communities most at risk, and the broader economic and cultural shifts that are making people more willing to take risks, more vulnerable to deception, and more likely to either perpetuate scams or fall victim to them. 

AI-enhanced scams are not merely financial or technological crimes; they also exploit social vulnerabilities — whether short-term, like travel, or structural, like precarious employment. This means they require social solutions in addition to technical ones. By examining how scammers are changing and accelerating their methods, we hope to show that defending against them will require a constellation of cultural shifts, corporate interventions, and eff­ective legislation.