Santander takes on fraud with social media awareness campaign

Santander has launched a series of fake adverts across social media in a bid to raise awareness of fraud.

The 10 AI-generated ads feature popular Christmas gifts, and are designed to show how realistic fraudulent ads can be.

Each ad features common telltale signs, such as unrealistically low prices, image discrepancies, suspicious URLs, insecure payment pages and spelling errors.

The campaign came as the bank published research finding that 74% of the UK public are unable to correctly identify a fake, AI-generated advert.

Chris Ainsley, Head of Fraud Risk Management at Santander UK said : “Generative AI has opened the floodgates to a new wave of highly convincing scams that can be almost impossible to spot at first glance.

“As fraudsters become more sophisticated, it’s vital that people stay alert and think twice before engaging with adverts or offers that appear to- good to be true. We want to make sure everyone knows what to look for so they can shop online with confidence, particularly as we head into one of the busiest shopping periods.”