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‘I Got Your Daughter’: Mother Warns Close Call in AI Voice Clone Scam

of phone The numbers displayed on the screen were unfamiliar.

Jennifer DeStefano almost tried to leave it to voicemail, but her 15-year-old was out of town skiing.

There may have been an accident.

Jennifer DeStefano received a scam call regarding a family emergency or a fake kidnapping using voice cloning. (KTVK/KPHO)
Jennifer DeStefano received a scam call regarding a family emergency or a fake kidnapping using voice cloning. (KTVK/KPHO)

“I pick up the phone and hear my daughter saying, ‘Mom!’ She sobs,” recalls DeStefano.

“I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ And she was sobbing and crying, saying, ‘Mom, I messed up.’”

In a split second, DeStefano’s confusion turned to terror.

“Then I heard a man say, ‘Put your head back, lie down,’ and I thought, ‘Wait, what’s going on?’” DeStefano said.

“This guy got on the phone and said, ‘Listen, I have your daughter. It’s going to be like this. I’ll call the police, call everyone, and I’ll fill her up.’ I’m going to go my way with her, and I’m going to drop her off in Mexico.

“And at that moment I started shivering. Behind me, she yelled, ‘Mom, please help me. Please help me. Please help me.’”

Text messages to watch out for that could fool most people

There were no doubts in DeStefano’s mind. Her daughter was in trouble.

“It never mattered who this was. It was totally her voice. It was her intonation. It was the way she cried,” she said.

“I never doubted it was her for a second.

But the 15-year-old said nothing about it.

“I can’t trust my ears anymore”

Phone voices are nothing more than clones created by artificial intelligence.

Subbarao Kambhampati, a computer science professor specializing in AI at Arizona State University, said:

He notes that voice replication technology is advancing rapidly.

“At first, we needed more samples. Now there’s a way to do this with just three seconds of audio. Three seconds. And in three seconds you can get close to what it sounds like exactly. ‘, Kanbanpati told On Your Side.

“Most of the voice cloning actually captures inflections and emotions. The bigger the sample, the better it is at capturing them,” he said.

“Obviously, you can’t always replicate what it sounds like when you’re upset if you speak in a normal voice, but if your upset voice lasts for three seconds, all bets are off. will be.”

Calls from unknown or foreign numbers should always be treated with caution. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Calls from unknown or foreign numbers should always be treated with caution. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Deep learning techniques are now largely overlooked and are becoming easier to access and use, according to Kanbhampathi.

“It’s a new toy and I think it can be used in some good ways, but certainly in some very interesting ways,” he said.

Scammers using voice cloning techniques often find their prey on social media, said Dan Mayo, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix office.

“We need to keep that stuff locked down. The problem is, if you publish it, you are allowing people like this to get scammed. It’s because they’re looking for a profile.” Once they get it, they’re going to dig you up. ”

According to the Federal Trade Commission, scammers often require victims to pay ransoms via wire transfers, cryptocurrency transfers, or gift cards.

Once money or gift card numbers are transferred, they are almost impossible to get back.

“Think of a movie. Slow down. Slow down people. Ask a lot of questions,” Mayo said.

“If there is someone interested in them, you will find out a lot of details about them that this scammer doesn’t know. I’ll start asking questions, and once it’s out in the public eye, you’ll quickly find out it’s a scammer.”

There are other red flags.

“If the phone number is from an unfamiliar area code, that’s one of the red flags,” Mayo added.

“Second red flag. International numbers. Sometimes those numbers call you too. Third red flag. Hang up and allow your loved ones to talk. No, this is a problem.”

The person who supposedly kidnapped DeStefano’s daughter demanded money. He started with a million dollars. “I’m like, ‘I don’t have a million dollars. Don’t hurt my daughter!’

DeStefano kept talking to him.

She was in her other daughter’s dance studio, surrounded by concerned mothers who wanted to help.

Another called DeStefano’s husband.

In just four minutes, my daughter was safe.

“She was upstairs in her room and was like, ‘What? What’s going on?’” DeStefano said.

“Then, obviously, I get mad at these guys. This is not what you play with.”

It’s unclear how many people have received similar scam calls regarding family emergencies and fake kidnappings using voice cloning.

“It’s happening on a daily basis, some reported, some unreported. A lot of people do a kind of decompression when they realize it’s a fake scam. I think there are, maybe they’re just glad it didn’t happen…but there are people who give in to these and end up sending money to these individuals,” Mayo said.

“Believe me, the FBI is investigating these people and we are finding them.”

DeStefano hung up.

Then a wave of relief swept over her.

“I literally just sat down and cried,” she said.

Those were all hypothetical tears. It all looked so real.

What do you think?

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