Think You Can Spot AI? These Three Stories May Change Your Mind

Once upon a time, an internet scam announced itself with six typos and an urgent request for gift cards. Now it can borrow a celebrity’s face, build a dream room from scratch, and make a routine customer service call feel vaguely dystopian.

On That’s the Point, hosts Jon Volk and Kristin Johns compare the increasingly weird ways artificial intelligence has turned the internet into one giant trust exercise. Their stories are funny until you realize how easily any of us could have fallen for the same thing.

How to Spot AI Scams With Jon Volk and Kristin Johns

Adele didn’t personally recommend that weight-loss product

Volk came across a post that appeared to show Adele explaining how she lost weight. She looked convincing enough that he clicked through to the product being advertised. “I clicked it because she looks amazing,” he admits.

Only after searching the brand did he find warnings that the promotion was a scam using an AI-generated version of the singer. “They made Adele an AI person on a Reel saying, ‘I lost all my weight, and my trainer had me eating this and buying this,’” he says.

The FTC has warned that scammers can create fake celebrity endorsements using doctored video and audio that look and sound real. Before buying anything, search the celebrity’s name alongside the product and words like “scam” or “fake.”

Your dream room may have never existed

Johns has been trying to figure out what to do with her kids’ bedroom, so when a photo came across her feed with striped wallpaper and blue trim, she screenshotted it and sent it to a friend for a second opinion. Her friend loved it—then she zoomed in. 

“This whole freaking room is AI,” she realized. The tell was the teddy bear. “It was way too perfect.”

She held the photo up to see whether Volk would catch it. He didn’t, at least not at first glance. Only on the second pass did the snowflake print on the bedspread start looking strange. The part that bothered them both was who’s doing it. “It’s a brand,” Johns says. “When these brands are using AI, you’re out. It’s disgusting behavior.”

Even the voice on the phone may be wearing a disguise

Johns thought she was speaking to a woman until the audio on a call with her internet provider began cutting out and a man’s voice briefly came through. Then the woman’s voice returned. “They were using an AI voice generator over his voice,” she says. “I said, ‘Take the voice generator off. This is terrifying.’”

Johns doesn’t claim the representative was trying to steal from her. Still, the moment shows how easily AI can make even a routine customer service call feel suspicious. The FBI warns that scammers can use AI to imitate someone you trust through voice or video. Before sharing money, passwords, or personal information, verify the request using contact details you already know are legitimate.

Volk and Johns began the episode joking that scams are “hiding around every corner.” After AI Adele, the imaginary bedroom, and the mystery customer service voice, the paranoia feels earned. If Adele suddenly appears on your phone with a shopping recommendation, clock her out and open Google.

Want the rest of their scam list? Listen to the full episode on That’s the Point, available wherever you listen to podcasts.

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