Terrifying scam: Mum's horror as daughter's voice is cloned for a $1 million ransom demand!
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We’ve all read about the horror stories of scammers using new technologies to dupe unsuspecting victims of their hard-earned money. But con artists are becoming more and more convincing these days – they’ve even evolved to copy the sounds of our loved ones, down to their cries and pleas.
Case in point: A mother was recently the target of an unsettling ransom scam that used artificial intelligence (AI) to create a frighteningly realistic imitation of her daughter's voice.
Just when you think there can’t possibly be any more scammers who will stop at nothing to get their hands on your money, they come up with ways to threaten, deceive and manipulate their unsuspecting victims even more.
Jennifer DeStefano experienced sheer terror when scammers implemented artificial intelligence to clone the sound of her daughter’s voice and use it against her.
According to the mum, the phone number that appeared on her screen was unfamiliar, so she almost let it go to voicemail. However, she remembered that her 15-year-old daughter was out of town skiing, and her mind immediately thought that there had been an accident.
‘I said, “What happened?”, and she said, “Mum, I messed up,” and she’s sobbing and crying,’ Jennifer shared before adding that in a split second, her confusion turned into terror.
Jennifer continued: ‘Then I hear a man’s voice say, “Put your head back. Lie down,” and I’m like, “Wait, what is going on?”’
‘And he’s like, “Listen here. I’ve got your daughter. This is how it’s going to go down. You call the police; you call anybody, I’m going to pop her so full of drugs. I’m going to have my way with her, and I’m going to drop her off in Mexico.” And at that moment, I just started shaking,’ Jennifer shared.
The scammers also demanded $1 million as ransom.
According to Jennifer, she could hear her daughter in the background pleading for help and ‘bawling’.
At that point, there was no doubt in the mum’s mind that her child was in danger.
‘It was never a question of who is this? It was completely her voice. It was her inflection. It was the way she would have cried,’ she explained.
Two nearby women ran to help, one of them calling the police.
‘(Police) tipped us off that this is a common scam that’s going on. It’s very accessible to get through an app or download off the internet,’ she shared.
But according to Jennifer, she ‘never doubted for one second’ that it was her daughter on the other end. ‘That’s the freaky part that really got me to my core,’ she added.
However, even after the police warning, Jennifer still couldn’t believe her daughter was safe.
‘[The scammers] proceeded to want a ransom, we were going through negotiation, they wanted to physically come to pick me up with the cash,’ Jennifer told reporters.
She claimed the voice on the other end was ‘so realistic’ that even when her husband told her he was with their daughter, she needed to speak with her before believing she was safe.
‘When they were able to finally locate my daughter with my husband, I didn’t believe she was really with him, I doubted it, and I kept saying: “That’s not possible. I heard her, I spoke to her, that’s her crying for me”,’ she admitted.
Jennifer continued: ‘When I finally got to talk with my daughter, and she reassured me she was safe, that was when I finally believed it because I couldn’t process it. I was so sure it was her voice.’
Jennifer contacted the authorities again following the incident to see if anything could be done, but since there was no crime committed, the police were unable to do anything. According to her statement, the incident was considered a prank call by law enforcement.
This incident is eerily similar to what one woman also experienced recently. According to her statement, her phone rang one morning, and upon checking, she saw her sister’s contact information and photo pop up on the caller ID.
When she picked up the phone, she heard a male voice saying he had her sister and made demands and threats to follow his orders or else he would harm her sister. You can read the rest of the story here.
According to cybersecurity experts, AI technology now just needs a three-second audio sample from a person to replicate their voice.
Professor Subbarao Kambhampati from Arizona State University said that people could no longer trust what they hear.
‘In the beginning, it would require a larger amount of samples. Now there are ways in which you can do this with just three seconds of your voice. Three seconds. And with the three seconds, it can come close to exactly how you sound,’ the professor explained.
He added: ‘Most of the voice cloning actually captures the inflection as well as the emotion. The larger the sample, the better off you are in capturing those.’
FBI Phoenix office assistant special agent in charge Dan Mayo says scammers who use voice cloning technology often find their prey on social media. However, he did offer advice on what to do if you face the same situation someday:
‘Just think of the movies. Slow it down. Slow the person down. Ask a bunch of questions. If they have someone of interest to you, you’re going to know a lot of details about them that this scam artist isn’t going to know,’ he advised.
He added: ‘You start asking questions about who it is and different details of their background that are not publicly available, you’re going to find out really quickly that it’s a scam artist.’
This report comes after a couple was scammed after believing that their son was in danger because of the phone call scam. In this instance, the scammers resorted to extreme measures to persuade the couple to believe the gravity of the situation and fabricated a story that their son was involved in a horrible accident. You can read the rest of the story here.
As technology advances, there will always be those who exploit it for their own nefarious purposes. Stay informed, and stay safe, members! Share your thoughts and tips in the comments below.
Case in point: A mother was recently the target of an unsettling ransom scam that used artificial intelligence (AI) to create a frighteningly realistic imitation of her daughter's voice.
Just when you think there can’t possibly be any more scammers who will stop at nothing to get their hands on your money, they come up with ways to threaten, deceive and manipulate their unsuspecting victims even more.
Jennifer DeStefano experienced sheer terror when scammers implemented artificial intelligence to clone the sound of her daughter’s voice and use it against her.
According to the mum, the phone number that appeared on her screen was unfamiliar, so she almost let it go to voicemail. However, she remembered that her 15-year-old daughter was out of town skiing, and her mind immediately thought that there had been an accident.
Scam artists fooled Jennifer into thinking she heard her daughter’s voice on the phone. Credit: Tara Winstead/Pexels
‘I said, “What happened?”, and she said, “Mum, I messed up,” and she’s sobbing and crying,’ Jennifer shared before adding that in a split second, her confusion turned into terror.
Jennifer continued: ‘Then I hear a man’s voice say, “Put your head back. Lie down,” and I’m like, “Wait, what is going on?”’
‘And he’s like, “Listen here. I’ve got your daughter. This is how it’s going to go down. You call the police; you call anybody, I’m going to pop her so full of drugs. I’m going to have my way with her, and I’m going to drop her off in Mexico.” And at that moment, I just started shaking,’ Jennifer shared.
The scammers also demanded $1 million as ransom.
According to Jennifer, she could hear her daughter in the background pleading for help and ‘bawling’.
At that point, there was no doubt in the mum’s mind that her child was in danger.
‘It was never a question of who is this? It was completely her voice. It was her inflection. It was the way she would have cried,’ she explained.
Two nearby women ran to help, one of them calling the police.
‘(Police) tipped us off that this is a common scam that’s going on. It’s very accessible to get through an app or download off the internet,’ she shared.
But according to Jennifer, she ‘never doubted for one second’ that it was her daughter on the other end. ‘That’s the freaky part that really got me to my core,’ she added.
The mum was almost tricked out of $1 million. Credit: Tyler Lastovich/Pexels
However, even after the police warning, Jennifer still couldn’t believe her daughter was safe.
‘[The scammers] proceeded to want a ransom, we were going through negotiation, they wanted to physically come to pick me up with the cash,’ Jennifer told reporters.
She claimed the voice on the other end was ‘so realistic’ that even when her husband told her he was with their daughter, she needed to speak with her before believing she was safe.
‘When they were able to finally locate my daughter with my husband, I didn’t believe she was really with him, I doubted it, and I kept saying: “That’s not possible. I heard her, I spoke to her, that’s her crying for me”,’ she admitted.
Jennifer continued: ‘When I finally got to talk with my daughter, and she reassured me she was safe, that was when I finally believed it because I couldn’t process it. I was so sure it was her voice.’
Jennifer contacted the authorities again following the incident to see if anything could be done, but since there was no crime committed, the police were unable to do anything. According to her statement, the incident was considered a prank call by law enforcement.
This incident is eerily similar to what one woman also experienced recently. According to her statement, her phone rang one morning, and upon checking, she saw her sister’s contact information and photo pop up on the caller ID.
When she picked up the phone, she heard a male voice saying he had her sister and made demands and threats to follow his orders or else he would harm her sister. You can read the rest of the story here.
Here's how you can protect yourself. Image credit: The Seniors Discount Club
According to cybersecurity experts, AI technology now just needs a three-second audio sample from a person to replicate their voice.
Professor Subbarao Kambhampati from Arizona State University said that people could no longer trust what they hear.
‘In the beginning, it would require a larger amount of samples. Now there are ways in which you can do this with just three seconds of your voice. Three seconds. And with the three seconds, it can come close to exactly how you sound,’ the professor explained.
He added: ‘Most of the voice cloning actually captures the inflection as well as the emotion. The larger the sample, the better off you are in capturing those.’
FBI Phoenix office assistant special agent in charge Dan Mayo says scammers who use voice cloning technology often find their prey on social media. However, he did offer advice on what to do if you face the same situation someday:
‘Just think of the movies. Slow it down. Slow the person down. Ask a bunch of questions. If they have someone of interest to you, you’re going to know a lot of details about them that this scam artist isn’t going to know,’ he advised.
He added: ‘You start asking questions about who it is and different details of their background that are not publicly available, you’re going to find out really quickly that it’s a scam artist.’
This report comes after a couple was scammed after believing that their son was in danger because of the phone call scam. In this instance, the scammers resorted to extreme measures to persuade the couple to believe the gravity of the situation and fabricated a story that their son was involved in a horrible accident. You can read the rest of the story here.
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