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# AI Now Impersonates Scammers to Waste Their Time
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/ai-now-impersonates-scammers-to-waste-their-time/
- Published: 2026-10-11T22:11:34.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-11T22:11:34.000Z
- Description: Security researchers have deployed AI chatbots posing as vulnerable victims or valuable targets, forcing cybercriminals to spend hours interacting with fakes instead of real prey.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-ai, ai capability, ai application, ai-driven defense

Source: [WIRED](https://www.wired.com/story/ai-is-getting-really-good-at-messing-with-cybercriminals/?ref=adjacent.media)

Security researchers have deployed AI chatbots posing as vulnerable victims or valuable targets, forcing cybercriminals to spend hours interacting with fakes instead of real prey. Rather than criminals using AI to scale fraud, defenders are using it to create friction and economic drag on criminal operations—trading compute for criminal attention. The tactic works by exploiting the same profit-driven calculus that makes cybercrime appealing: if enough scammers waste enough time on bots, the ROI on their campaigns drops, making other attack vectors or victim pools more attractive.