The New Mexico State Treasurer’s Office warned this week that fraudsters are using artificial intelligence to make ordinary phone scams more convincing and harder to detect, KRQE reports.
Local and national banks recently alerted the Treasurer’s Office to fraudulent call centers impersonating bank employees to steal online banking credentials and make unauthorized transactions. Scammers fake caller ID so calls appear to come from a bank’s official toll-free number, including 888 numbers, or a local number, and use AI to imitate real employees’ voices. They also use automated phone menus that mimic real customer-support systems and cite fake reference numbers, such as “TR#,” to create urgency.
Officials urge people never to share personal details, passwords, one-time passcodes or account access with an unverified caller. If a call seems suspicious, hang up and contact your bank directly using the number on the back of your card or the bank’s official website, and report the call to your bank. The New Mexico Department of Justice has more information on preventing scams, and the Federal Trade Commission accepts fraud reports.
Why It Matters
A call can show an official bank number or use a realistic-sounding voice and still be fraudulent, and these scams are getting harder to spot as AI tools spread.
About This Story
Daily Reports is Brant.One’s news roundup. Each day we gather the New Mexico stories worth knowing from newsrooms across the state, sum them up and point you to the source. This one comes from KRQE’s reporting, and their original story has the interviews and full details.
Editor’s note: Updated Nov. 1, 2026. This story is now part of Daily Reports, our New Mexico news roundup, and was revised to credit KRQE’s original reporting. Learn how Daily Reports works in our editorial standards.
