Terrifyingly Sophisticated AI Scams

By Melanie Standiford

As a child my mom thought of unique ways to protect my sisters and me. I grew up in Wellfleet, Nebraska which by all intents and purposes then – and now – should be one of the safest (and most boring) places on earth to live. And while that may be true, my mom was prepared. We could not randomly walk around town. After all, Highway 83 runs from Canana to Mexico in one way or another and she always said if we were kidnapped we could be halfway to Texas before anyone missed us. And that was in the 80’s, mind you.

And there was the lake. No swimming at the lake in Wellfleet where you can’t see your hand in front of you under water in the murky water. We felt over protected and bored. Now, all these years later, my mom is gone, but I still feel her love.

It was boring and that was before internet. Fast forward to 2024 and add in that and the high rate of human trafficking and scammers – what a mess.

I have a scary story to share with you from right here in Nebraska that happened this week.

One of my followers had to quickly decide how to respond when she got a call from a man with her own daughter’s voice being used during the call.

Brace yourself – this is not only a sophisticated artificial intelligence scam, it is TERRIFYING!

An AI SCAM CALL used the girl’s voice to call the mother to tell her mom she had been hurt in an accident.

Then, a man came on the phone to tell the mom he was a police officer. He informed the mom he was with the daughter. He told her the daughter had been hit by a car and was injured. He asked about other medical issues and informed the mom that they were at “Axes and Aces,” further making the mom believe the man on the phone.

During the call, the mom says she could “hear” her daughter crying and saying “I just want my mom!Please get my mom!”

Then the caller (the man on the phone) told the mom he was a member of a cartel in Nebraska and they had her daughter. He demanded money.

The mom went to the first place she could stop and borrowed a phone to call 911 and a sheriff’s deputy came to her.

The mom goes on to explain that the deputy was very helpful and they found her daughter at home, safely sleeping. But the details of knowing the familial connection, where the daughter worked, and having a recording of her daughter’s voice is very concerning.

The caller’s number was traced to Lexington and this has been reported to the FBI.

In another instance, several months ago, a good friend of mine messaged me asking to borrow money (which was out of character). I immediately knew it was a scam – until she FaceTimed me. It was her face talking TO ME asking to help her out. We talked to each other! Yet, it was NOT her. It was AI using her likeness.

Folks, the time has come where the future is now. All the fear of this is real. I’m not wanting to invoke hysteria- but conversations need to happen. Families need code words. Make a secret word with your kids or loved ones or something that only you know to indicate if it’s really you or not. Have conversations that will protect you and those you love. These scams are off the charts sophisticated and it is only going to get worse.

It’s sad we can’t randomly walk around Wellfleet, or trust a stranger on the phone. But we can’t.

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Create a Family Password

Here is some advice from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

It’s a classic and common scam, and like many scams, it relies on a scary, urgent scenario to override the victim’s common sense and make them more likely to send money. Now, scammers are reportedly experimenting with a way to further heighten that panic by playing a simulated recording of “your” voice. Fortunately, there’s an easy and old-school trick you can use to preempt the scammers: creating a shared verbal password with your family.

Read more …

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/01/worried-about-ai-voice-clone-scams-create-family-password

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