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Scammers are using AI-generated voice clones, the FTC warns : NPR


This Wednesday, April 14, 2016, file photo, showing a landline phone with buttons, in Whitefield, Maine.

Robert F. Bukaty/AP


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Robert F. Bukaty/AP


This Wednesday, April 14, 2016, file photo, showing a landline phone with buttons, in Whitefield, Maine.

Robert F. Bukaty/AP

For years, a common scam involved receiving a call from someone claiming to be an authority figure, such as the police, urgently asking you to to pay to get a friend or family member out of trouble.

Now, federal regulators warn, such a call could come from someone who sounds like a friend or family member — but is actually a scammer using a voice copy. their say.

Federal Trade Commission issued a consumer warning this week urges people to be wary of calls that use artificial intelligence-generated voice transcripts, one of the latest techniques used by criminals in the hope of defrauding people of money.

“All [the scammer] what is needed is a short audio clip of your family member’s voice — something he can pull from content posted online — and a voice transcription program,” the committee warned. “When the scammer calls you, he will sound like your relative. “

If you’re not sure if it’s a friend or relative, hang up and call them

The FTC suggests that if someone like a friend or loved one is asking for money — especially if they want to get paid via wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or a gift card — you should hang up and call the person directly. there to verify their story.

A spokesperson for the FTC said the agency could not provide an estimate of the number of reports of people being scammed by thieves using voice cloning technology.

But what sounds like the plot from a sci-fi story is hardly fabricated.

In 2019, scammers impersonating the boss of a UK-based energy company CEO claim $243,000. ONE Bank manager in Hong Kong cheated by someone using voice cloning technology to make a large transfer in early 2020. And at least eight elderly people in Canada lost totaling $200,000 earlier this year in a clear voice cloning scam.

Video “Deepfake” aims to show celebrities doing and saying things they’ve never done are getting more sophisticated, and experts say voice-cloning technology is also evolving.

Subbarao Kambhampati, a computer science professor at Arizona State University, told NPR that the cost of voice transcription is also falling, making it more accessible to scammers.

“Previously, it required a complicated operation,” says Kambhampati. “Now the little crook can use it.”

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