>> In Tony’s ordeal, the crooks appear to have initially contacted him via Google Assistant, an AI-based service that can engage in two-way conversations.

This type of scam has been going on since the early 2000's.

Back in the day when I was a fresh faced high school kid working for a mom and pop wireless shop, criminals would use the NAD rely system to call dealers like the one I worked for. They'd offer credit card payment for phones without any service on it ask for it to be mailed to a PO Box. Back then, companies like Verizon subsidized their phones so to buy a phone without any service on ran $500+ and we rarely, if ever sold phones without service on it since that's how me made our money.

As soon as a new model phone would come out, it was like clockwork. We'd start getting relay calls everyday for about a week. Once they figured out we weren't a mark, they'd stop.

Kind of interesting thieves are just utilizing newer technology for the same type of scam.