San Diego State University researchers have harnessed artificial intelligence (AI) to unveil and thwart cryptocurrency giveaway scams on Twitter.

The AI tool, named GiveawayScamHunter, has astonishingly identified 95,111 fraudulent lists produced by 87,617 accounts on the platform between June 2022 and June 2023.

Using GiveawayScamHunter, the researchers successfully extracted the website and wallet addresses linked to these scams, uncovering 327 fraudulent giveaway domains and 121 new cryptocurrency wallet addresses. This initiative has also shed light on the mechanics of these scams, detailing how scammers target victims and providing an estimate of the number of victims during the one-year study period.

The report approximated that over 365 individuals fell victim to crypto scams, resulting in losses exceeding $872,000. The researchers underscored the prevalence of active spam accounts, indicating the urgency in detecting and curtailing their dissemination.

To identify the scam-related lists, the researchers utilized a natural language processing tool trained on previously identified scam data. This facilitated the identification of almost 100,000 instances of scam lists and gathered data on previously unreported scam websites and wallets.

The research findings, which include associated accounts, domains, and wallet addresses, have been shared with both Twitter and the cryptocurrency community. However, as per the report, 43.9% of the associated accounts remain active as of the publication date.

This use of AI in identifying cryptocurrency giveaway scams aligns with scammers’ exploitation of AI-driven tools to devise new methods of fraud. These tactics amplify the reach of scams and fabricate a veneer of authenticity through the creation of fake followers and interactions.