With the arrival of the New Year, so came new and improved AI scams. For better or worse, AI has become part of a writer’s life. Here are a few AI scams that writers are facing and how to avoid becoming a victim of these clever tricksters.

The AI Recruiter

This scam artist uses AI to do their dirty work. They no longer have to deal with you one-on-one. The commonly troll job search platforms such as LinkedIn and Career Builder, among others, to find their victims. But if you are paying attention, they give themselves away with their generic job offers via mass email or texts. Here is just one example of an email or text you might receive from an AI recruiter scammer:

“Based on your resume’ we want to offer you a job as a senior copywriter. Please fill out the form attached so HR can get you started right away. “

Don’t respond and here’s why: They are trying to quickly gain personal information from you. These texts are sent from identify thieves. They know that there is a lot of competition for work, especially among writers. They hope you will fill out their form and provide personal information from which they steal your identity. Unless the email is from a legitimate source you are familiar with, the best thing you can do is delete and block the email or text.

The AI Client

Similar to the AI recruiter, this scammer’s con is to get free work from you. They post fake job posts on content mills and even reputable job search platforms. It works like this:

Often they will offer a higher than normal price to get you to submit work. But they will only offer to pay after the work is complete. So while that scam has been around for a long time, scammers now use AI to send you offers and they never have to speak with you. They also use AI to post thousands of job ads and figure some writers will take the bait. Unfortunately, they are right. Often they will steal the identity of legitimate employers.

Here’s how to respond: Get a hold of a real person. Insist on getting contact information. Do your research and verify the person offering pay for work is legitimate. Make sure you always get a deposit before you start any work. A legitimate employer or client is always willing to pay a deposit. If something does not feel right, trust your gut feeling. Don’t waste your time working for free.

Fight Back with AI

There is no way to avoid the onslaught of Artificial Intelligence (AI). But ironically, you can turn the table on scammers! Use AI to do a quick search to verify you are getting a legitimate job offer. Here are some things to watch for:

• Job posting does not exist or is vague
• Unofficial email domains
• Unprofessional websites
• Grammar errors

These are red flags. Make sure you practice due diligence to protect yourself as a writer and against identity theft scams.

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