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China has reportedly heightened scrutiny of “deepfake” tech after a rise in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven fraud.

Worries about the potential for AI to assist in financial crimes have grown following a case in which a man was scammed into giving money to a fraudster posing as a friend, Reuters reported Monday (May 22).

Police in Baotou said, per the report, the scammer, with the help of AI-powered face-swapping technology, masqueraded as a friend of the victim’s during a video call to get his hands on a 4.3 million yuan (about $612,000) transfer.

From China Cracks Down on AI Following Rise in Deepfake Scams:

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Where Amazon has seen the most traction is in selling Just Walk Out to companies that operate small grab-and-go stores installed in specialized venues. An Amazon spokesperson said that Just Walk Out has been installed at over 30 stores operated by other companies in U.S. sports stadiums, 12 airports and one university in Arlington, Virginia. The outside stores that have installed Just Walk Out so far are much smaller than Amazon Fresh stores, which tend to be 25,000 square feet or bigger.

From How Amazon’s Big Bet on ‘Just Walk Out’ Stumbled — The Information:

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Javelin Strategy and Research estimate that last year some 40 million Americans were victims of identity fraud and scams. Those victims lost more than $40 billion. For the enterprising criminals, it makes much more sense to get into pig butchering than bank robbery.

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Hence a third strategy, to build an alternative payment method for existing repeat customers, rather like the RedCard of Target, a big retailer. RedCard offers customers 5% discounts on Target purchases, encouraging them to spend at Target over its competitors. Some 20% of the firm’s $100bn annual revenues come through RedCard.

From The old bank/card model is still entrenched in the rich world:

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Implementing something like Target Red, but using FedNow, sounds good.

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The impact of cbdcs will depend greatly on their design.

From Central-bank digital currencies are talked about more than coming to fruition:

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Yet it would be wrong to write off cbdcs. Central banks are the ultimate settlement institution of any financial system. A “wholesale” cbdc, accessible only to certain financial institutions, could make payments systems more competitive by giving fintechs access to central banks directly rather than through banks. cbdcs might help upgrade cross-border payments, making possible instant settlement across pairs of currencies. Even for countries that have advanced payment systems, there is a case for a cbdc to influence standards governing the design of newfangled currencies. It is not inconceivable that cbdcs could one day go mainstream. Despite recent scepticism, the hardly hypeish deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sir Jon Cunliffe, has said it is likely that a “digital pound will be needed in the uk.”

From Central-bank digital currencies are talked about more than coming to fruition:

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There are other flaws with upi. Transaction success rates, a key metric that can encourage more spending, are lower than for payment systems in developed markets. Financial-data sharing, which promotes competition among banks and unlocks access to credit, has been slow to take off. Sahamati, an association of account aggregators, finds that the number of linked accounts has grown to 5m in April 2023. But that is small when set against India’s vast population.

From A digital payments revolution in India:

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Customer protection has suffered. A survey by Renuka Sane, an Indian economist, and her co-authors, found that 18% of upi users had some grievance with the system, such as fraud or a mistaken payment. Less than 30% have seen their complaints resolved. Uttam Nayak, a former boss of Visa in India, notes that, although upi has rapidly growing volumes, the overall transaction value has not taken off as much. Consumers prefer safer payment methods for big-ticket items. “I use upi to buy chai. But I wouldn’t use it for a plane ticket,” says one architect based in Mumbai.

From A digital payments revolution in India:

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Yet the state-led, zero-fee model has downsides. Indian bankers claim that a shortage of revenue has dissuaded banks and fintech firms from investing in consumer protection. “There are tech costs, maintenance costs, fraud and dispute costs,” complains one. “Why would a financial firm incur all those expenditures when there’s no revenue stream?” asks Ajay Shah of the xkdr Forum, a think-tank in Mumbai. “This is a wake up call…maybe the answer is to charge a little more,” says Mr Rajan, the former rbi governor.

From A digital payments revolution in India:

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Aleksi Grym, writing in the Bank of Finland Economic Review (August 2020), suggests that the story of the Avant electronic cash system can provide valuable perspective to the ongoing discussions regarding CBDC, and I agree. Specifically, he notes a key difference between Avant and the CBDC systems being designed today is that for modern CBDC systems cards would probably be an additional feature which is absolutely correct. But I think that another important difference is that Avant was for purchases, whereas a CBDC is a