Many of us navigate life juggling too much at once to pay attention to every warning or crisis until something happens to us or someone close to us. It’s human nature to tune things out until they hit home.

In previous opinion pieces, I have raised concerns about the increasing number of Bermudians being scammed some out of their life savings through both banking fraud and artificial intelligence deception. These issues are still very much with us and they deserve a fresh spotlight.

Banking fraud: a known vulnerability

Bermuda has seen a disturbing number of cybercrime incidents in which funds have been directly extracted from personal bank accounts. Despite the security measures that exist, many people don’t realise just how limited these protections really are.

In many cases, even if a person is cautious and self-aware, the system does not give them enough control over their own financial safety. For example, why not allow customers the option to disable wire transfers on their accounts? Not everyone needs this functionality and for those who don’t, disabling it could serve as a simple but powerful fraud-prevention tool.

Wire transfers have been the method of choice for many fraudsters. Once the money leaves a Bermudian bank and travels through other institutions, especially ones without established relationships with our banks, it becomes nearly impossible to trace or recover. Banks are well aware of this, and yet the tools to mitigate it remain optional or poorly communicated.

AI and the deepfake threat

Artificial intelligence is playing a growing role in fraud, particularly through impersonation. Several scams have made the rounds where AI-generated videos and audio clips appear to show popular Bermudians endorsing investment schemes. These look and sound convincing because they use the real person’s face and voice, cloned from interviews, podcasts, or public appearances.

This isn’t theoretical any more. This is a threat to anyone with a digital footprint.

We urgently need legislation in Bermuda that gives individuals ownership over their own biometric data — specifically their voice and image. This would make it illegal for others to use AI to replicate someone’s likeness without consent.

Denmark is already addressing this issue. According to CNN, Legal News (June 28, 2025), Danish lawmakers are pushing for stricter protections for artists and public figures from digital identity theft. Bermuda should be doing the same.

We must protect not only artists and public figures, but all individuals from the new forms of identity theft made possible by AI. A few simple changes such as offering users more control over their accounts and legislating AI usage could go a long way.

Let’s not wait until it happens to you. Let’s act now while we still have the chance to get ahead of this advance technology.

• Dion Smith ran as a candidate for the One Bermuda Alliance in Warwick North Central (Constituency 27) at the February 2025 General Election