Chilling AI Scam Mimicking Voices of Loved Ones in New England

You're sitting at home in New England and receive a voicemail or phone call from your loved one or close friend, frantically telling you they're in trouble, kidnapped, overseas, or in trouble with the police.

The New Yorker has some terrifying stories about what AI is being used for, like mimicking the kidnapping of a loved one.

This is called voice cloning, according to the Better Business Bureau, and it's gaining speed. The BBB tracks such scams that sound convincing and terrifying with information that makes sense. It's not only affecting us around New England, but people worldwide.

According to The New Yorker, widely-available technology companies like ElevenLabs make voice clinging easy for scammers.

This has become easier now that TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram store endless videos of regular people talking. You take thirty or sixty seconds of a kid’s voice and log in to ElevenLabs, and pretty soon Grandma’s getting a call in Grandson’s voice saying, ‘Grandma, I’m in trouble, I’ve been in an accident.’ ”

HOW THE SCAMS WORK

Here's just one alert the BBB received.

Received call on 1-26-24 I thought it was my daughter-in-law she said Hi mom calling to say she was pulled over driving and has a broken nose and was frantic to have me call the lawyer right away. She asked me 3 times if I wrote the name & number down. I said yes. She said she had to go right now as they are taking her. Her voice sounded just like my daughter-in-law.

Whether you receive a voicemail or phone call from a colleague, boss, friend, or loved one, the instructions will always involve wiring money for a rush project, or a serious and even life-threatening situation.

You may even receive complete transferred information, adding to this scam's legitimacy to prolong the inevitable of finding out you were just scammed.

HOW TO AVOID AI VOICE CLONING SCAMS

The BBB says whatever you do, don't react. Take a deep breath, no matter how convincing or scary the phone call or voicemail sounds. After hanging up, call the person who supposedly called you. But whatever you do, don't dial the number that just phoned you, and don't call the number provided.

Never send money if anything feels off. Wait to confirm that it is a true emergency.