McAfee has announced the launch of AI-powered, McAfee Scam Protection. The latest feature in McAfee’s product suite draws on patented artificial intelligence (AI) technology to turn the tables on cyber criminals using AI to turbocharge scams and deceive people out of thousands of dollars, the company states.

With the help of AI, cyber criminals are creating more convincing, personalised scams, at scale. Phishing scams are the number one cybersecurity threat worldwide, with a new phishing site created every 11 seconds.

In Australia, text messages emerged as the preferred tool for scammers, accounting for 33% of scam reports, surpassing phone calls at 29% in 2022. Australians collectively suffered substantial financial losses exceeding $3.1 billion due to text scams last year.

The deluge of these new sophisticated AI-generated scams is making it harder than ever to tell real from fake ones as AI has made online scams more accurate and believable.

In response, McAfee Scam Protection is designed to proactively spot and block the scam. McAfee’s patented AI technology instantaneously detects malicious links to stop users clicking by sending an alert message. Even if a person accidentally clicks on a malicious link, McAfee Scam Protection proactively blocks the site from loading.

Greg Johnson, McAfee Chief Executive Officer, says, “AI has changed the game for cyber criminals. Gone are the days of obvious typos, poor graphics, or other tell-tale signs in phishing emails or scam texts. Today, cyber criminals are using artificial intelligence to dramatically improve the accuracy, sophistication, and speed of an attack, making it harder than ever to tell real from fake."

"It’s why we all need the most advanced, innovative AI working in our favor, to proactively protect us, in real-time, before we even know we’ve been targeted. Our new scam protection technology is revolutionary and will help consumers to safeguard themselves digitally."

Tyler McGee, Head of APAC Sales at McAfee, says, "In Australia, cyber threats have undergone a significant transformation, reflecting a global trend. Australians need cutting-edge AI solutions to proactively protect themselves in real-time."

"McAfee Scam Protection combines advanced AI and expert human intelligence to intercept fraudulent emails, texts, and social media threats. This ground-breaking technology's greatest advantage lies in its automatic operation, relieving users from the need to be constantly vigilant and anxious. We're confident it'll enhance the lives of Australians with top AI tools for online safety, empowering them in our connected world."

Important Details for McAfee Scam Protection:

• Proactive and automatic protection: Get the notification about a scam text before you even open the message. Once you grant permission to scan the URLs in your texts, McAfee Scam Protection takes charge and will let you know which texts aren’t safe and shouldn’t be opened.
• Patented and powerful AI: McAfee’s AI runs in real-time and is constantly analysing and processing millions of malicious links from around the world to provide better detection. This means McAfee Scam Protection can protect you from advanced threats including new zero-day threats that haven’t been seen before. McAfee’s AI continually gets smarter to stay ahead of cyber criminals to protect you even better.
• Simple and easy to use: Once you’re set up, McAfee Scam Protection goes to work immediately. No copying or pasting or checking whether a text or email is a scam. McAfee do the work for you and the feature will alert you if it detects a dangerous link and blocks risky sites in real time if you accidentally click. 
• Free to try; free for existing customers: For new customers in Australia, McAfee Scam Protection is available as part of a free seven-day trial of McAfee Mobile Security. After the trial period, McAfee Mobile Security is $3.99 a month or $44.99 annually for a one-year subscription. Most McAfee customers now have McAfee Scam Protection available as part of existing plans; simply update the McAfee Security app with no need to purchase separately or download a separate app. Some exclusions apply.

McAfee Scam Protection’s AI technology detects and protects against dangerous links, works across Android, iOS, Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge and Firefox. Text alert functionality is currently only available for all Android users with enhancements coming to iOS in October.

Today, customers across any platform can benefit from McAfee’s risky link identification which blocks a dangerous link should you accidentally click on it, whether that’s through text messages, social media, or your browser.