AI is making cyberscams harder to detect. Here’s how to thwart them.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Earlier this year, financial advisors across the country opened emails from the CIO at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Written in a professional tone and bearing the regulator’s official seal, the electronic missives asked advisors to confirm their “best email address" for secure communications going forward.

But there was a catch: Although the emails convincingly mimicked the tone, layout and authority of an SEC communication they weren’t from the agency at all. Instead, they were part of a sophisticated phishing campaign aimed squarely at advisors. Although online scams are as old as the internet, poor grammar, odd phrasing and spelling mistakes used to be common giveaways.

But with artificial intelligence fueling the work of malicious actors, spotting fake communications across platforms is harder than ever. Today’s attackers can mimic a colleague’s tone, reference real transactions and produce polished messages that look completely legitimate. A fraudulent invoice or payment request can blend seamlessly into normal workflows.

Even experienced professionals who spend their careers evaluating risk can be fooled. For financial advisors the stakes couldn’t be higher. Client trust, reputations and billions of dollars in assets are all at risk.

Here are new phishing trends every financial advisor should have on their radar along with practical ways to deal with them. Spear phishing. Spear phishing is a highly targeted type of phishing with a personal touch.