My Crusade Against Financial Crime

How Ask Silver Is Transforming Scam Prevention with AI

The latest episode of FinTech Focus TV, recorded live at Financial Crime 360, takes viewers inside one of the most urgent conversations happening in financial technology today: the rising sophistication of scams and the growing need for innovative fraud-prevention tools that protect everyday consumers. Toby speaks with Alex Somervell, Co-Founder and CEO of Ask Silver, whose personal story and mission-driven approach form the heart of this discussion. Alex reveals how his father’s devastating experience being scammed inspired the creation of Ask Silver, how consumer fraud has evolved dramatically, and why the financial services industry must rethink how it protects customers in an increasingly digital world. 

The Human Story Behind Ask Silver: A Personal Catalyst for FinTech Innovation

Alex’s journey into financial crime prevention did not begin in a bank, nor in traditional fraud technology circles. Instead, his career began in consumer-focused product development, spanning children’s language learning products, personalised comic book ventures, and consulting. The turning point came when his father was scammed out of nearly £150,000, losing most of his life savings. As his father’s power of attorney and next of kin, Alex witnessed the emotional and financial devastation of real-world fraud. It became clear to him how pervasive, damaging, and under-discussed the problem truly is. His father’s experience was soon followed by three of Alex’s thirty-something peers, two founders and one tech professional, losing between £40,000 and £165,000. Fraud was not just a problem for the elderly or vulnerable; it was hitting people who by all accounts were digitally literate, financially aware, and tech-savvy. 

This awakening set the foundation for Ask Silver. Rather than building yet another enterprise fraud tool designed exclusively for banks, Alex wanted to create something that would empower everyday people, particularly those without deep technical knowledge, to identify scams quickly and safely. It was the convergence of personal experience, an understanding of consumer behaviour, and a recognition that fraud tactics had become too advanced for the average person to detect unaided.

Why Fraud Is Rising in Financial Services: Consumer Vulnerability in the Digital Age

One of the most striking insights from this FinTech Focus TV episode is the misconception around who is most likely to be scammed. For decades, fraud prevention narratives have centred on vulnerable groups: older adults, people with disabilities, or those lacking digital skills. Yet Ask Silver’s user data and market analysis show the opposite trend. Gen Z and millennials, digital natives deeply embedded in online marketplaces and social platforms, are now more likely to be targeted, and more likely to fall victim. The reason is simple: scammers go where people spend time. And today that means Facebook Marketplace, Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok, and other digital ecosystems where transactions, communication, and identity verification are fluid and fast-moving. 

Toby notes during the conversation that years ago, people might have dismissed victims as naïve or careless. But fraudsters have evolved. Modern impersonation scams are so sophisticated that the average consumer has almost no chance of identifying them without assistance. Fraudsters can replicate bank logos perfectly, mimic legitimate email addresses by changing a single character, or impersonate a travel company, delivery provider, or government service with near-identical digital assets. It takes only one overlooked detail for a scam to succeed.

Alex compares today’s environment with the era of the “Nigerian prince letter”. In the past, scams were crude and obvious; now, as technology advances, fraud has become subtle, dynamic, and hyper-personalised. Scammers can mimic behaviour patterns, tone of voice, and even sentiment. AI has made fraud scalable, and dangerously believable.

How Ask Silver Uses AI to Prevent Scams: A New Layer of Defence for Financial Services

Ask Silver’s core product is an AI-powered scam checker designed to mimic the actions of a trained human fraud expert, but in seconds and at scale. Users take a screenshot of any suspicious message, whether an email, text, WhatsApp message, or social media DM, and forward it to Ask Silver via WhatsApp. The AI then analyses the message, visiting links safely, examining domains, assessing sentiment, checking for coercion techniques, identifying impersonation patterns, and scanning for known fraud markers. Within 10 to 20 seconds, the user receives a clear response: either confirmation that the content appears legitimate, or an alert that the message is likely a scam and why. 

This approach fills a significant gap in the market. While banks have invested heavily in fraud tooling for internal teams and transaction monitoring, there has been very little innovation aimed directly at supporting consumers before fraud occurs. Many banks offer generic warnings, “This could be a scam”, but these lack context or actionable guidance. Ask Silver, on the other hand, contextualises risks and educates users by showing them precisely what is suspicious.

The company operates on a B2B2C model. While the consumer version of the tool is free and available to the public, Ask Silver also partners with banks to integrate its scam checker into customer journeys. Metro Bank is one of the first major financial institutions to pilot and expand the tool, incorporating it into account setup flows, new payee journeys, and other high-risk touchpoints to improve customer protection.

Financial Crime Prevention in FinTech: Why Consumer Tools Have Lagged Behind

Throughout the episode, Alex and Toby discuss why fraud protection for consumers has historically lagged behind fraud protection for businesses. The biggest reason is responsibility. For years, fraud risk was treated as something consumers needed to manage themselves. Banks and telecoms providers assumed customers should identify what is real or fake, even as scams became more complex. Fraud was considered an education issue rather than a shared responsibility across industry stakeholders. 

Yet this assumption is no longer tenable. Modern scams require near-encyclopaedic knowledge. Consumers are expected to recognise impersonation tactics, spoofed numbers, psychological manipulation, and subtle domain alterations. They must know when to ignore messaging, when to seek confirmation from family, and how to avoid conversational traps. This is unrealistic for the average person, particularly as fraud continues to accelerate.

Ask Silver aims to rebalance this burden. The tool does not replace consumers’ judgment; it enhances it. It acts as a second opinion, a rapid-risk assessor, and a form of early intervention, offering the kind of support that historically only banks could access internally.

The Importance of Data Sharing for Financial Crime Detection

One of the most discussed themes at Financial Crime 360, and highlighted in this FinTech Focus TV episode, is data sharing. Financial institutions recognise the need to share intelligence on known scams, emerging typologies, phishing domains, email addresses, and phone numbers used in fraud. However, as Alex points out, conversations about data sharing often remain vague. The industry discusses the need for more data, but rarely defines precisely what type of data is needed or how it should be used. 

Ask Silver has already identified tens of thousands of scams through its consumer platform. This dataset includes links, messages, impersonation scripts, domains, and behavioural patterns, intelligence that could meaningfully support financial institutions, law enforcement, and fraud prevention frameworks. Yet without clearer structures for how this information should be exchanged, much of this value remains untapped.

Toby aligns with this view, observing that while “data” has become a buzzword in financial services, its practical application often lags behind sectors such as retail, which use data far more dynamically and effectively.

AI and Impersonation Scams: The Future Threat Facing FinTech

Looking ahead, Alex predicts that impersonation scams will become even more sophisticated. Deepfake voice technology, AI-generated video, and highly targeted digital impersonation will soon become mainstream tools for fraudsters. Criminals can already clone voices from podcasts, social media clips, or online interviews, making it possible to impersonate a family member with astonishing accuracy. Combined with phone number spoofing, which allows scammers to make calls from numbers appearing identical to genuine ones, the potential for deception is enormous. 

Alex outlines a scenario where a fraudster contacts someone using what appears to be their parent’s number, speaking in a cloned voice and referencing details harvested online. This creates an almost unbreakable illusion. Consumers will need new forms of verification, such as “two truths and a lie”-style identity checks, where a person tests whether the caller knows information only a real family member would know.

As the line between real and artificial identity blurs, FinTech companies, banks, and fraud-prevention teams must continuously evolve their strategies. This is where AI-driven solutions like Ask Silver could become essential infrastructure across financial services.

The Growth of Ask Silver: Traction, Partnerships, and Market Demand

Despite being a young business, Ask Silver has achieved significant traction. The company has been featured in the Daily Mail, ITN, and the BBC three times. It works directly with Metro Bank and is in discussions with other major UK financial institutions. Alex emphasises that this early success stems not from aggressive sales strategies, but from building a tool that genuinely addresses a pressing societal need. Demand has come naturally because the problem is so widespread and because existing solutions simply do not go far enough in helping customers protect themselves. 

For Harrington Starr’s FinTech recruitment audience, this traction is a clear indicator of the growing need for top-tier fraud, data, and AI talent in the financial technology sector. As scam prevention becomes central to digital banking strategy, demand for product specialists, fraud technologists, AI engineers, data scientists, and compliance leaders will continue to rise across London, New York, and global financial hubs.

The Future of Scam Prevention and FinTech Talent: What Comes Next

When asked about the future, Alex offers a vision defined by expansion and continued innovation. The company plans to deepen its partnership with Metro Bank, scale its data insights, collaborate with more banks, and build an expanded suite of consumer tools. He stresses that society must shift its mindset: consumers are not failing when they fall for scams; they are operating in a landscape where fraud techniques evolve faster than human intuition. Instead of relying solely on education, the industry must “arm consumers” with accessible, intelligent tools capable of keeping pace with fraud’s rapid transformation. 

This insight resonates strongly within the FinTech recruitment sector. As fraud grows more complex, banks and FinTech firms will require new skill sets to stay ahead, particularly talent capable of building, deploying, and scaling AI-driven fraud solutions. Whether in product development, scam detection technology, or regulatory compliance, the need for specialist talent is accelerating.

Why Conversations Like This Matter for the Future of FinTech

This FinTech Focus TV episode demonstrates why financial crime remains one of the highest-priority areas in the FinTech world. It affects consumers emotionally and financially, puts enormous strain on banks, and threatens trust in digital financial systems. As scam typologies evolve, so must the tools, strategies, and talent pipelines behind fraud prevention.

Alex’s work at Ask Silver sits at the forefront of this transformation. His perspective, rooted in personal experience, technological innovation, and consumer empathy, makes this conversation an essential one for anyone working in FinTech, recruitment, financial crime, or digital transformation. At Financial Crime 360, surrounded by industry leaders and decision-makers, the message is clear: the industry must evolve quickly, collaboratively, and intelligently.

FinTech recruitment businesses such as Harrington Starr play a critical role in enabling this evolution. By connecting financial institutions and scaling FinTechs with the fraud, AI, and data talent required to combat growing threats, we help build a safer financial ecosystem, one capable of protecting consumers in the digital age.