McAfee launches scam detector to stop scams before they strike

Scams are everywhere. McAfeeThe new scam detector spots and stops scams over text, email and video to keep you from getting scammed.

McAfee announced today at CES 2025 release of McAfee Scam Detector – the most comprehensive protection against text, email and video scams. Today's scams are smarter, sneakier, and more accurate than ever—and they're everywhere. One in three Americans admit to falling for a text, email or video scam in the past 12 months.

From fake emails and suspicious texts to in-depth videos that look very real, scammers are using clever tricks to steal people's money and personal information. McAfee is helping consumers take back control with the AI-powered McAfee Scam Detector to stop scammers in their tracks.

McAfee is using AI to try to stop scams before they strike through automatic detection of scams or potential scams. Scammers have a couple of things working in their favor, said Steve Grobman, CTO of McAfee, in an interview with GamesBeat.

One is that there are a large number of private communication channels where there is not necessarily a moderator, such as encrypted messages or direct messages. They could be communicating with the victim, you know, under the supervision of security. The other piece is real-time, which is one of the reasons McAfee made its deep-detection product work on any video stream on the Web, Grobman said.

Starting this spring, McAfee Scam Detector will be included at no additional cost to McAfee customers. This essential product uses the latest advanced AI technology to analyze and identify dangerous messages in real time. That 'Hi, how are you?' a text from a stranger? This is one of the top text scams of 2024.

I received a scam email about using an automated document signing service, with an attachment saying “NDA Termination”. I almost fell for that one, because of how desperately I related to that one. (I was not fired).

Urgent delivery failed email? Probably fake. And no, Elon Musk doesn't have a specific investment opportunity for you. McAfee makes it easy to tell true from false in seconds and gives you the winning combination of tips and technology to keep scams out of your life for good.

“I think personalization is the smartest thing,” Grobman said. “One of the things we've seen is job scams, where people have made their search public, and these scams are in the form of taking a job interview to the next level, but it requires a background check and we have to pay the applicant. for a background check.”

He said that the scanning for scams works in real time, making it possible to catch the scammers at the right times.

Background information

A year ago, Grobman talked to me about focusing scam protection in three areas: scams that come via email, scams that come via text, and then scams that consumers are exposed to, generally, in other media formats such as video.

To address that, the company developed advanced AI models to protect users in these three areas and started using them at the end of 2024. One of these was a deep detector to help users to help determine whether AI-generated videos are AI-generated versus real.

The company held a technology preview for our other methods, namely email and text.

“And now that we're moving into 2025 we're excited to move all of these technologies to a much larger scale by bringing them to the majority of our customers,” Grobman said. “We are changing our AI models to take advantage of advanced PC AI when there is an advanced PC AI. So we can run our AI models on the NPU (PC itself), but we also have the ability to run on other decision engines, either the CPU or GPU, which can give us a wider scope , to provide capabilities to a wider range. set of users.”

The email scam protection is going to move beyond the technology preview made by McAfee in 2024 where it was available for Microsoft-based email properties. Now it can support Gmail and other properties.

“In offers in 2025, we have developed advanced technology to detect fake deep images. So we partnered with Yahoo News in 2024 around helping to ensure that images that came through the pipeline, that the editors, the quality assurance work, finding out if anything has been created with AI image generation technology and helping to provide that insight. “

Protecting people in today's Scamiverse

Every day, scammers trick people with fake emails, texts, and videos, and the results can be devastating. Americans report receiving 12 scam messages a day, losing as much as $1,000 when they fall for one, and spending 80 hours a year just trying to figure out if the messages which they find true or false, according to a McAfee study. And deep-pocketed scams, which use AI to create a fake video, can be even worse – some people have lost up to half a million dollars, based on a McAfee study.

It is clear that scams have become a drain on people's time, energy and finances.

“I've had more problems with scam texts lately. I would say within the last year, it's just been bad. Like I've been getting a lot of spam emails, texts, calls…it's a lot,” said Tina, 31, in South Carolina.

“It was a fake email for UPS. I thought I was signing up to change my address and instead it charged my credit card,” said Alexandria, 46, of Georgia.

“While I love new technology, I'm scared of AI-generated videos and information from seeing how real it can be,” said Haley, 24, of New Jersey.

“Scammers are getting smarter every day, using technology like artificial intelligence to make their tricks more accurate and harder to spot,” Grobman said. “They play on people's emotions – like fear , urgency or trust – to get what they want. That's why we created McAfee Scam Detector. It warns you about scams before they do harm, helps you control your personal information, and helps you to the skills to build what is needed to defeat scammers for good.”

Grobman said MAfee saw a lot of holiday scams, offering customers good deals, during the recent holiday season.

“They offer deals that are too good to be true,” Grobman said. “Cybercriminals are in the business of extorting money from their victims, and generational AI is making them more effective and efficient as well.”

How McAfee Scam Detector works

McAfee's Scam Detector is powered by Smart AI, the same technology that makes McAfee's award-winning online protection so reliable. Here's what this all-in-one protection does to keep people safe from email, text message and video scams:

Email Scam Detector: Scan your inbox for suspicious emails and dangerous message flags before you even open them. It also explains why a message is dangerous, so you know what to look for next time.

Text scam detector: Detects suspicious texts that scammers use to trick you into giving them money or clicking on bad links, identifies dangerous messages before you open them, and gives you a clear explanation of why they are dangerous. You need the McAfee mobile app for iOS or Android to enable this. You would simply enable this on the app.

Deepfake detector: Spots videos made by AI, telling you if something you're watching may not be what it seems. Whether it's someone pretending to be your boss or a celebrity verification, McAfee makes sure you won't be fooled. Innovation for deepfake detection continues with expansion into more languages ​​and will soon work seamlessly wherever you are online – across phones, tablets, laptops, and
desk.

The deep AI fraud detector for PCs is available now and McAfee will be expanding that to most PCs today, Grobman said.

By running deepfake detection at the edge on a user's PC, the system is optimized for privacy and latency.

“If we find something from streaming, we give that information to the user immediately and we have no latency,” he said. “We take full advantage of the innovation that has happened there the hardware ecosystem and the device ecosystem.”

McAfee is also showing at CES its technology that works on Mac, Android and Chromebooks – going beyond AI-based protection on Microsoft Windows.

Simple, easy protection for everyone

Free for McAfee customers: Soon, McAfee Scam Detector will be included in all McAfee +, McAfee Total Protection, and McAfee LiveSafe plans at no additional cost.

Works immediately: Once set up, Scam Detector goes to work immediately. There's no need to copy, paste or second guess if a message is fake – McAfee does it for you.

It protects you wherever you are online: Whether you're using a phone, laptop, tablet, or Chromebook, Scam Detector keeps you safe.

For more tips on avoiding scams and staying safe online, visit the McAfee Smart AITM Hub at mcafee.ai.