Artificial intelligence of brother’s voice scams man of $6,000
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Criminals used artificial intelligence to scam a man out of $6,000.
The technology used in the scam is easily accessible over the internet.
Mark Finley told I-Team 8 the scam started with a phone call. “He said, ‘Right now, I’m sitting in jail.’”
Finley believed he was talking to his brother. He had supposedly been injured in an accident and was under arrest for manslaughter.
“Punctuated quite frequently by coughing, heavy breathing, and short little words. It was my brother’s voice, but it explained why there was no nuances for me to pick up on, which, normally with an AI, you figure out something’s not right.”
Fearing his brother needed his help, Finley jumped into action.
“This triggered fight or flight, so at that point, your brain shuts down and I’m in saving mode.”
Other people involved in the scam also called him: a supposed lawyer and a bail bondsman. Both said they needed money to get his brother out of jail.
“Six grand, cash, ’cause if I do a money order, it could take three to four days before it’ll clear,” Finley said.
He packaged up the $6,000 and handed it off to a driver that the scammers sent to his house.
He realized something was wrong when they asked for more money.
So, he called his brother’s phone only to realize it was all a scam.
Finley reported the scam to police, but, so far, he doesn’t have his money back.
He pieced together that the scammers had used AI to mimic his brother’s voice.
Finley said, “My brother is on YouTube, so I could see where they got his voice.”
To show how easy it is to mimic someone’s voice, I-Team 8 recorded a minute of random sentences from a reporter and uploaded it to an AI voice-generator website, and used it to mimic his voice. The process took approximately five minutes.
If someone may be using AI to mimic a loved one, Finley suggests, asking the callers things only the two of you would know.
“Not things like birthdate that are easy to find. Things like, ‘What was it that you smacked me for when I was 10 years old?’ that only Patrick would know.”