Where new technology goes, the unscrupulous follow. The generative artificial intelligence (AI) hype train has attracted fraudsters who are using it not only as part of their schemes, but also in their advertisements on social media sites. What’s worse is that older and financially vulnerable people are sometimes the ones being targeted.

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which polices deceptive advertising practices, saw a jump in complaints over the past year about ads that either used AI or claimed to use it to lure people into scams.