A mother in the USA received a call where she heard her daughter pleading for help – she had been kidnapped. However, the voice turned out to be AI.
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Jennifer DeStefano from Arizona told the American broadcaster WKYT about a phone scam that deeply shook her.
Her 15-year-old daughter was on a ski trip when she suddenly received a call from an unknown number. When Jennifer DeStefano answered, she heard her child sobbing and crying on the other end. When asked what had happened, she replied: “Mom, I messed up.”
Then, a male voice came on: He had her daughter in his power. He demanded a sum of 1 million US dollars for her release. DeStefano replied that she did not have that much money. The criminal then lowered the amount to 50,000 US dollars.
The mother was in her other daughter’s dance studio at the time of the call. Those present reacted quickly. Immediately, a friend called the police, and another contacted DeStefano’s husband.
4 minutes later, the mother had confirmation: her 15-year-old daughter was fine, she was safe on the ski vacation. DeStefano hung up.
Voice cloning with AI is getting better
In retrospect, it turned out that the scammer had mimicked the daughter’s voice using AI. It worked so well that the mother stated she did not doubt for a second that she had her daughter on the other end of the line:
“It was completely her voice. It was her tone. It was the way she would have cried,” the mother recounts. “I did not doubt for a second that it was her. That is the crazy part that really hit me to the core.”
The Computer Science Professor Subbarao Kambhampati explained to WKYT that the so-called “voice cloning” technology is improving incredibly quickly. Nowadays, only 3 seconds of voice material is enough for the AI to be able to very closely replicate the voice.
What do experts advise? According to the FBI, criminals often look at the social networks of their target person to find voice material. To avoid this, the profile can be switched to private mode, so that it is no longer publicly visible. However, this does not always work: according to DeStefano, her daughter had no public profiles.
If you receive such a call, remain calm. An initial warning signal for a scam is a call from an unknown or international number. Also, questions about specific details that a stranger would not know can help detect a scam. In the USA, there have already been several attempts at such deception.
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