AI is helping scammers mimic voices of people's loved ones

Ruth Card, 73, and her husband Greg Grace, 75, got a phone call from someone who sounded just like their grandson Brandon saying he was in jail and needed money for bail. They went to two separate banks in Saskatchewan to withdraw the money, but were soon told by a bank manager that another patron had gotten a similar call and learned the oddly accurate voice was faked, The Washington Post reported.

"We were sucked in," Card said in an interview with The Washington Post. "We were convinced that we were talking to Brandon."

According to The Post, impersonation scams are in the rise thank to technology making it easier to for scammers to mimic voices.

"In 2022, impostor scams were the second most popular racket in America, with over 36,000 reports of people being swindled by those pretending to be friends and family, according to data from the Federal Trade Commission. Over 5,100 of those incidents happened over the phone, accounting for over $11 million in losses, FTC officials said," The Post's report stated, adding that cheap online tools powered by AI make impersonating one's voice easier than ever.

IN OTHER NEWS: Right-wing 'crusaders' unjustly drove a top New Jersey teacher from his job: editorial board

Law enforcement has few resources to track down the perpetrators of these scams due to the fact that the victims have few leads to relay when they're targeted.

"It's terrifying," said Hany Farid, a professor of digital forensics at the University of California at Berkeley. "It's sort of the perfect storm . . . [with] all the ingredients you need to create chaos."

Farid says AI voice-generating software analyzes what makes a person's voice unique and searches a vast database of voices to find similar ones and predict patterns.

"Two years ago, even a year ago, you needed a lot of audio to clone a person's voice," Farid said. "Now . . . if you have a Facebook page . . . or if you've recorded a TikTok and your voice is in there for 30 seconds, people can clone your voice."

Read the full report over at The Washington Post.