How Fraudsters Turned “AI” Into the Perfect Marketing Buzzword

Why does slapping the word “AI” on a trading product work so well as a marketing tool for fraud? Felix Bick tackles this question directly in Chapter 2 of How Not to Get Scammed by AI Trading Apps, and the explanation is more subtle than simple hype.

As Bick writes, “AI” sells because it implies capability without requiring proof. Say “algorithm” or “machine learning” and most people assume a level of sophistication and objectivity that sounds beyond human error or bias. This assumption is precisely what scammers exploit — a vague claim like an AI system that “analyzes millions of data points” cannot easily be verified or disproven by an ordinary reader.

The book draws an important distinction that runs throughout its entirety: legitimate AI in finance is usually narrow, boring, and clearly scoped — a model trained to flag unusual transactions, or optimize trade execution. It rarely claims to guarantee returns, because real machine learning models operate probabilistically, and their creators understand markets aren’t fully predictable.

This gives readers a genuinely useful diagnostic tool. When a platform’s “AI” is described in sweeping, almost magical terms — claims that it “never loses” or “sees patterns humans can’t” — that specificity gap is itself a warning sign, according to Bick. The vaguer and more grandiose the claim, the less likely there’s real technology behind it.

This chapter alone reframes how readers should approach any product marketed around artificial intelligence, whether in trading or elsewhere: ask what the AI actually does, in specific and falsifiable terms, rather than accepting the label as a stand-in for genuine sophistication.

For readers trying to distinguish real fintech innovation from AI-washed fraud, this chapter of Bick’s book is essential reading, laying important groundwork for everything that follows in How Not to Get Scammed by AI Trading Apps.