Insights

Netcraft, ICMEC, Seraph Secure and Somos Talk Fighting Fraud with AI on the Front Lines of Technology

Nov 14, 2025

The 2025 Somos Summit brought together global thought leaders, industry experts and innovators to explore the intersection of Trust, Technology & Transformation. Held just outside Washington, D.C., this year’s event featured insightful sessions and meaningful conversations focused on advancing the telecom ecosystem and shaping the future of trusted communications.

During the Day 1 Power Sessions, experts explored how artificial intelligence is reshaping both sides of the fraud fight. Moderator Kayla Gardner, Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs at Somos, led the panel “Stopping Fraud in the Wild: How Solutions and AI Are Shaping the Future of Telecom Defense.” She was joined by Alex Barter, Senior Software Engineer at Netcraft, Shawnna Hoffman, CEO of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) and Kitboga, CEO/Founder of Seraph Secure.

Kayla Gardner opened with the numbers: phone scams are up 40%, damages have risen 255% and average losses per incident continue to shrink. AI, she noted, has industrialized deception, but it’s also transforming the tools used to stop it.

Sharing a deeply personal story, Shawna Hoffman underscored the emotional and national-security implications of fraud. “The battlefield isn’t military anymore, it’s our kids,” she said, warning that deepfakes and AI clones are already being used to manipulate vulnerable populations. She urged faster collaboration between public and private sectors to strengthen data protection and cryptographic readiness.

Alex Barter explained how AI has lowered the technical barrier for cybercriminals, enabling them to generate realistic fake websites, emails and conversations in minutes. His team at Netcraft has taken down more than 50,000 scam operations using AI systems that detect and report fraudulent numbers in real-time. “Speed and accuracy are our biggest weapons,” he said, emphasizing the need for shared intelligence across organizations and agencies.

Discussing how his work as a digital scam-baiter evolved into building machine learning tools that now talk directly to scammers, Kitboga explained that these AI agents stall operations and extract valuable threat data. “They think they’re talking to a victim,” he said, “but they’re really feeding the machine that’s learning how to stop them.”

The session closed with a unifying message: scammers may weaponize isolation, but collaboration can turn the tide. Kayla reminded the audience that AI is not just a tool for deception, it’s also the foundation for defense.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• AI cuts both ways: It enables fraud at scale but also powers faster, smarter detection.

• Partnerships are essential: Shared data and intelligence create stronger collective defenses.

• Technology meets empathy: Human oversight ensures innovation serves people, not just systems.