AI Voice Cloning Scams: A Call for Enhanced Digital Security

Origin Reddit Post

r/technology

Woman Conned Out of $15K After AI Cloned Her Daughter’s Voice in Terrifying Scam: 'I Broke Down'

Posted by u/MetaKnowing•07/21/2025

Top Comments

u/uSpeziscunt

They almost got my mom and grandmother the same way. I don't think they even cooked my voice, just used an appropriately upset voice that was crying and hard to understand. Set up a code or p

u/madzterdam

Scammers used automated detectors, so when you answer "Hello," it notifies them of activity and they mark the account active, from there. I clear my throat instead for unknown callers, when I

u/BitcoinMD

This is a very weird and vague story. It says she “withdrew the cash” and followed “delivery instructions”? So she delivered a bag of cash to some random dude or place? Edit: found another

u/shogun365

Yeah I kinda saying that in jest tbh - like when people strip to pay for school. But I have known of an individual who scammed people to be able to get the money to study internationally

u/Intruder313

I’m paranoid enough about this that I barely speak when I answer my phone now - I’ll leave a pause and then quietly say ‘hello’ as that filters out a tonne of scam calls and reduces how much

u/Nulligun

This exploit only works on people willing to bribe police officers.

u/Odd-Comfortable-6134

I have taught my son to watch out for that for when I’m older. I’m Gen X and think everything is a scam, but who knows what will happen as I age. There are many reasons why seniors are ch

u/bombmk

That scam already existed. The idea that they used AI to fake the voice is just bonkers. No need for it - and very little chance that they did.

u/madzterdam

Scammers used automated detectors, so when you answer "Hello," it notifies them of activity and they mark the account active, from there. I clear my throat instead for unknown callers, when I

u/Prestigious-Law-7291

_Hey Janelle, what’s wrong with Wolfie?_ but unironically

u/kernelangus420

But do your parents know to pretend that the wrong safe word is correct so as not to arouse suspicion?

u/obeytheturtles

The issue here is that they will just engineer the code word out of elderly people. We really need some kind of OTP verification system.

u/msimione

This. We have had a safe word in case of something like this where a stranger may need to act as an intermediary when I was a child. I literally asked my parents the other day if they still

u/TheSlateGray

The genie is already out of the bottle. No matter what laws are passed, or what regulations are set, there's local version of all this technology on Github and Huggingface. You could pass a

u/Realistic_Spite2775

Lmao my sister once called my dad in tears because she had been in her first car accident (she was physically fine). My dad told her to call the cops, call insurence, deal with it, and hung u

u/HasGreatVocabulary

>After AI Cloned Her Daughter’s Voice no you idiots, AI didn't clone the voice, some asshole used an AI tool to clone a voice and then scammed someone. The AI didn't do shit and people s

u/Illustrious_Log_9494

I have a safe word so we know we are talking to real person and not under duress.

u/Nulligun

This exploit only works on people willing to bribe police officers.

u/MetaKnowing

PSA: teach your parents/grandparents that "I need money for bail" is a common AI voice cloning scam.

u/ValuableJumpy8208

> “oh I know. I would fall for that” Would or wouldn't?

u/kernelangus420

But do your parents know to pretend that the wrong safe word is correct so as not to arouse suspicion?

u/Ralphie5231

Indian government supports and protects the industry too.

u/ckellingc

I work in bank fraud recovery. This story is happening more and more. If someone says they know you or your kid, they'll be ok with you checking in on it and calling them back

u/BitcoinMD

This is a very weird and vague story. It says she “withdrew the cash” and followed “delivery instructions”? So she delivered a bag of cash to some random dude or place? Edit: found another

u/UnstableConstruction

Pick a safe word and tell your grandma that it's fake unless you use that safe word.

u/namtok_muu

Someone used to call my grandma up on her landline and say it was me and have full conversations. No cloning required just social engineering. Lucky it wasnt a scammer just a weird kid. We ne

u/odx0r

I always wonder with these stories whether in 40 years time I will fall for some scam like the old people do... like... as a millennial nerd you can sniff a scam out a mile away when it comes

u/svmk1987

Also, in many countries, it's often not that easy to go to college and get a good education, and even after that, there simply aren't enough good jobs which pay sufficiently, certainly not as

u/Cowboywizzard

Everything's smurfy

u/CHobbes_

Don't be specific with bail. Use a code word "I need money for ______" and make that the ONLY phrase used to trigger support. Also don't send money through anything other than a bank hours wi

u/Perpetually27

Set up a safety word with your parents to use when you call.

u/Perpetually27

Set up a safety word with your parents to use when you call.

u/Nulligun

This exploit only works on people willing to bribe police officers.

u/CherryLongjump1989

When cars were new, old people would drive them into a lake while screaming "whoah! whoa!" instead of pressing the brake. Old people still drive their cars into shit, but at least they don't

u/cyclejones

this pays better...

u/shogun365

Maybe they’re stealing to pay for the education…

u/artcopywriter

Of course there’s a GoFundMe. She’ll probably give the cash from that away to another scammer next…

u/JelliedHam

Unfortunately it didn't work. He's still been scammed a million times other ways.

u/RyukXXXX

Many scammers are tricked into it by the promise of legitimate jobs and then trafficked to remote compounds to do their captors bidding.

u/bigkoi

Exactly why I don't post video or audio of me talking on social media. Also why I don't answer the phone from unknown numbers and let it go to voicemail. AI fraud has really changed phone e

u/DiscardedMush

Make a password between each other and don't share or tell anyone else.

u/PhantomNomad

Sometimes it's really hard not to fall for it. I got a call from my "bank". They had my card number and name so I thought it was legit. It was only after they tried resetting my banking pa

u/svmk1987

Also, in many countries, it's often not that easy to go to college and get a good education, and even after that, there simply aren't enough good jobs which pay sufficiently, certainly not as

u/OscarCalvo74

In our family all have a secret code word that must be used only in case of emergencies to validate is it really one of us.

u/Justin_Passing_7465

Do you have a carbon-monoxide detector?

u/throwawaystedaccount

To the wild extent that people from India have been trafficked to Cambodia to be slaves in IT scam farms. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-68705913 It's scamming and trafficking of

u/AuspiciousApple

That's a great idea. What's the safe word? Just for inspiration

u/Fraternal_Mango

My parents created a family password for safety long ago. It actually helped once when my dad was contacted by “me” asking for money to get out of jail. It’s nice to be ahead of the scam curv

u/Prestigious-Law-7291

_Hey Janelle, what’s wrong with Wolfie?_ but unironically

u/Killashard

Sometimes it's literal slaves doing the work for organized crime.

u/razialx

Jokes on the scammers. My parents are broke

u/CherryLongjump1989

When cars were new, old people would drive them into a lake while screaming "whoah! whoa!" instead of pressing the brake. Old people still drive their cars into shit, but at least they don't

u/Varnigma

I had a long convo with my elderly mother about this kind of stuff and of course her comment was “oh I know. I would fall for that” The next day she told me about a really cool video she saw

u/Odd-Comfortable-6134

I have taught my son to watch out for that for when I’m older. I’m Gen X and think everything is a scam, but who knows what will happen as I age. There are many reasons why seniors are ch

u/skwyckl

Not everybody can go to college in less performing economies Not justifying this kind of behaviour, but still, college should not be taken for granted.

u/DeliciousPangolin

The average person is completely ignorant of how generative AI works and thinks you can clone someone's voice simply by recording them saying "hello" to a spam call. Even if if they someho

u/AkodoRyu

Because this provides exponential profits. You need to put in work to set it up, but when it's up and running, you can scale it almost infinitely. And you are not even limited by your Indian

u/razialx

Jokes on the scammers. My parents are broke

u/CHobbes_

Don't be specific with bail. Use a code word "I need money for ______" and make that the ONLY phrase used to trigger support. Also don't send money through anything other than a bank hours wi

u/skwyckl

Not everybody can go to college in less performing economies Not justifying this kind of behaviour, but still, college should not be taken for granted.

u/Sparticuse

Pro tip: This scam doesn't need AI voice cloning. I used to be a bank teller, and we'd get people coming in to send Western Union money to their "grandkid" pretty regularly. This was 2007-2

u/DeliciousPangolin

The average person is completely ignorant of how generative AI works and thinks you can clone someone's voice simply by recording them saying "hello" to a spam call. Even if if they someho

u/Razvee

Still happens basically every day. I’m a 911 operator and took a call just last week from a family who lost 7k to scammers like that.

u/whitemiketyson

Must be a pretty good pension after 18,008 years of service.

u/Pauly_Amorous

A foreign nation turning a blind eye to criminal organizations scamming Americans and making the phone system practically unusable deserves a lot more attention in the US than it's currently

u/[deleted]

[removed]

u/Sparticuse

Pro tip: This scam doesn't need AI voice cloning. I used to be a bank teller, and we'd get people coming in to send Western Union money to their "grandkid" pretty regularly. This was 2007-2

u/bluemaciz

Wonderful, another thing I gotta worry about my elderly mother falling for.

u/harry_pee_sachs

I agree with you. I don't have a solution on how to stop scams like this. I believe they will continue to grow and get more sophisticated as open source models improve and as consumer hardwar

u/uSpeziscunt

They almost got my mom and grandmother the same way. I don't think they even cooked my voice, just used an appropriately upset voice that was crying and hard to understand. Set up a code or p

u/Realistic_Spite2775

Lmao my sister once called my dad in tears because she had been in her first car accident (she was physically fine). My dad told her to call the cops, call insurence, deal with it, and hung u

u/lalachef

Where's the Beekeeper?!

u/ZiggyMangum

I’m not sure if they were doing it with AI in 2023 but that’s when my mom got one of these calls. At that time, she and I hadn’t had a relationship or spoken with each other in four years, bu

u/cyclejones

this pays better...

u/m_Pony

"I Love Justin Trudeau"

u/kernelangus420

But still got both kidneys!

u/icehot54321

Solid advice that has lasted since at least the 70s If anything it’s more relevant than ever and is even something that companies need to start using to make sure accounts payable people are

u/Pauly_Amorous

A foreign nation turning a blind eye to criminal organizations scamming Americans and making the phone system practically unusable deserves a lot more attention in the US than it's currently

u/Rayaku

To top it off, even going to college won't make you earn more than this in a lot of poorer countries.

u/msimione

This. We have had a safe word in case of something like this where a stranger may need to act as an intermediary when I was a child. I literally asked my parents the other day if they still

u/artcopywriter

Of course there’s a GoFundMe. She’ll probably give the cash from that away to another scammer next…

u/timify10

Families might need a safe word to prevent voice replicating scams. Seniors are very susceptible to similar scams.

u/protipnumerouno

Even better teach them two factor authentication... Just text or call the person directly before sending money.

u/Justin_Passing_7465

Do you have a carbon-monoxide detector?

u/W8kingNightmare

The sad thing is everyone will need to setup code words now. So if I were to call my mom asking for money I would need to give her an code word so she knows its me. Soon there is going to be

u/Razvee

Still happens basically every day. I’m a 911 operator and took a call just last week from a family who lost 7k to scammers like that.

u/timify10

Families might need a safe word to prevent voice replicating scams. Seniors are very susceptible to similar scams.

u/PhantomNomad

My wife works in a drug store and when an elderly person comes in and wants to buy 500 bucks in gift cards they always start asking questions. Trying to convince some of them that it's a sca

u/latortillablanca

This is also not like one dude in his garage being criminally intrepid anymore. There are fraud farms of this shit, its huge business that provides like a literal 9 to 5 for workers. The guy

u/Perpetually27

Set up a safety word with your parents to use when you call.

u/shogun365

Maybe they’re stealing to pay for the education…

u/timify10

Families might need a safe word to prevent voice replicating scams. Seniors are very susceptible to similar scams.

u/svmk1987

Also, in many countries, it's often not that easy to go to college and get a good education, and even after that, there simply aren't enough good jobs which pay sufficiently, certainly not as

u/OscarCalvo74

In our family all have a secret code word that must be used only in case of emergencies to validate is it really one of us.

u/massio1

“Wait my daughter doesn’t need 15k in iTunes cards to get her out of a traffic stop?!?!?”

u/Intruder313

I’m paranoid enough about this that I barely speak when I answer my phone now - I’ll leave a pause and then quietly say ‘hello’ as that filters out a tonne of scam calls and reduces how much

u/[deleted]

[removed]

u/merRedditor

So this is why I don't like those one-way video interviews offered through third parties with lax data privacy, retention, and resale policies.

u/oldschool_potato

So true. I'd call her and I'd get, oh hi Jane, no, Lily?, no, ohhhh Michael. Every time. Would just list us in birth order until she got a hit like she was playing battleship.

u/Justin_Passing_7465

Do you have a carbon-monoxide detector?

u/namtok_muu

This was way back in the 80s and happened only a handful of times. My silent generation gma could never recognize any of her kids’ or grandkids’ voices on the phone.

u/CherryLongjump1989

Narrator: Grandma was actually listing them from most favorite to least favorite.

u/StayingUp4AFeeling

HELL YES EXACTLY THAT. It can also be similar to the question-answers in Harry Potter books 6 and 7. "Grindylow in a tank" etc

u/harry_pee_sachs

I agree with you. I don't have a solution on how to stop scams like this. I believe they will continue to grow and get more sophisticated as open source models improve and as consumer hardwar

u/obeytheturtles

The issue here is that they will just engineer the code word out of elderly people. We really need some kind of OTP verification system.

u/Embarrassed-Map7364

$1000 that no AI was involved at all and the scammer simply got lucky in finding yet another parent gullible enough to fall for this - it’s not even slightly a new scam but blaming AI is easi

u/ZiggyMangum

I’m not sure if they were doing it with AI in 2023 but that’s when my mom got one of these calls. At that time, she and I hadn’t had a relationship or spoken with each other in four years, bu

u/msimione

It was an old cartoon specific to me that I watched. Not gonna be more descriptive

u/StayingUp4AFeeling

I would advise everyone to create a system of ID words/passwords with their loved ones. Something that can't be deduced from birthday, CV, location, social media etc. A secret. Something simp

u/StayingUp4AFeeling

I would advise everyone to create a system of ID words/passwords with their loved ones. Something that can't be deduced from birthday, CV, location, social media etc. A secret. Something simp

u/qtx

> by just doing some kind of basic verification Yes, a safe word. Your option is way too complicated. A simple safe word would do just fine.

u/BlazingJava

AI cloning + social engineering will be too powerful for our parents to handle. Best way is to create mechanism to make sure they are the real family member, like a story only they would kn

u/harry_pee_sachs

This is also why I personally think it's important for people to talk about AI with their families because this isn't going away. I hope there's some regulations in place for AI voice cloning

u/paternoster

Badass edit. Chef's kiss to you.

u/ckellingc

I work in bank fraud recovery. This story is happening more and more. If someone says they know you or your kid, they'll be ok with you checking in on it and calling them back

u/9spaceking

Fake me: ma I’m in trouble I need money Asian mom (in mandarin): ai yaaaa what have you gotten yourself into this time Scammer: ????

u/bombmk

That scam already existed. The idea that they used AI to fake the voice is just bonkers. No need for it - and very little chance that they did.

u/crabald

Sad to hear this scam is still occuring in 20015.

u/harry_pee_sachs

This is also why I personally think it's important for people to talk about AI with their families because this isn't going away. I hope there's some regulations in place for AI voice cloning

u/Mental-Ask8077

Exactly. The number of people willing to freely do this sort of shit is far lower than the number of people they need to make it worthwhile. People get tricked and trafficked into all sorts o

u/AuspiciousApple

That's a great idea. What's the safe word? Just for inspiration

u/PasswordIsDongers

To all the criminals: why don't you just stop doing crime?

u/BlazingJava

AI cloning + social engineering will be too powerful for our parents to handle. Best way is to create mechanism to make sure they are the real family member, like a story only they would kn

u/Bleades

Not to mention that a lot of IT support work is farmed out to other countries. Corporations then look for cheaper and cheaper labor. So you have a large group of citizens that are fairly sk

u/Embarrassed-Map7364

$1000 that no AI was involved at all and the scammer simply got lucky in finding yet another parent gullible enough to fall for this - it’s not even slightly a new scam but blaming AI is easi

u/paternoster

Badass edit. Chef's kiss to you.

u/artcopywriter

Of course there’s a GoFundMe. She’ll probably give the cash from that away to another scammer next…

u/PhantomNomad

My wife works in a drug store and when an elderly person comes in and wants to buy 500 bucks in gift cards they always start asking questions. Trying to convince some of them that it's a sca

u/razialx

Jokes on the scammers. My parents are broke

u/corrosivecanine

I’m extremely skeptical. This scam has been around for at least a decade. It doesn’t require AI. People hear what they want to hear and will swear up and down that it was their family member’

u/MetaKnowing

PSA: teach your parents/grandparents that "I need money for bail" is a common AI voice cloning scam.

u/massio1

“Wait my daughter doesn’t need 15k in iTunes cards to get her out of a traffic stop?!?!?”

u/Curious_Document_956

To all the scammers putting in this much effort, why not get a real job or go to college?

u/ckellingc

I work in bank fraud recovery. This story is happening more and more. If someone says they know you or your kid, they'll be ok with you checking in on it and calling them back

u/Yeagerisbest369

"AI would change the world"

u/ReasonablyConfused

We have a code word. Every relative who could be a target is aware of it.

u/SoMatchaThoughts

Yeah, this is why I won't answer calls from strangers. If you need me, text or email before calling.

u/Bleades

Not to mention that a lot of IT support work is farmed out to other countries. Corporations then look for cheaper and cheaper labor. So you have a large group of citizens that are fairly sk

u/KrayzieBone187

My parents would laugh and say not again.

u/The_Mdk

I read the whole story on the GoFundMe, seems to me like they're the ones scamming random people to get free money off that platform There are so many things that make zero sense in the stor

u/KrayzieBone187

My parents would laugh and say not again.

u/msimione

It was an old cartoon specific to me that I watched. Not gonna be more descriptive

u/odx0r

I always wonder with these stories whether in 40 years time I will fall for some scam like the old people do... like... as a millennial nerd you can sniff a scam out a mile away when it comes

u/bluemaciz

Wonderful, another thing I gotta worry about my elderly mother falling for.

u/icehot54321

Solid advice that has lasted since at least the 70s If anything it’s more relevant than ever and is even something that companies need to start using to make sure accounts payable people are

u/GiganticCrow

They aren't individuals doing this, they are organised crime paying people shit money to do it for them

u/9spaceking

Fake me: ma I’m in trouble I need money Asian mom (in mandarin): ai yaaaa what have you gotten yourself into this time Scammer: ????

u/icehot54321

Solid advice that has lasted since at least the 70s If anything it’s more relevant than ever and is even something that companies need to start using to make sure accounts payable people are

u/Sparticuse

It was so common I started telling people I wouldn't send money until they had convinced *me* that they had spoken to whoever they thought they spoke to by calling them on a verified number.

u/BitcoinMD

People always say this but you don’t need a code word. First of all, most emergencies don’t require exchange of money. The vast majority of the time, in a real emergency it will be “I’m at t

u/JelliedHam

I once recall answering a frantic call from my grandfather on my office phone. My cell was on silent. He was already in the parking lot of some store ready to buy money cards. He didn't seem

u/Illustrious_Log_9494

I have a safe word so we know we are talking to real person and not under duress.

u/W8kingNightmare

The sad thing is everyone will need to setup code words now. So if I were to call my mom asking for money I would need to give her an code word so she knows its me. Soon there is going to be

u/msimione

This. We have had a safe word in case of something like this where a stranger may need to act as an intermediary when I was a child. I literally asked my parents the other day if they still

u/MetaKnowing

PSA: teach your parents/grandparents that "I need money for bail" is a common AI voice cloning scam.

u/SoMatchaThoughts

Yeah, this is why I won't answer calls from strangers. If you need me, text or email before calling.

u/Fredfuchs285

Good on you for being so direct with him. That's exactly the kind of reality check that actually sticks. Hope he remembers it next time someone tries this on him.

u/CreasingUnicorn

Yea scammers have been immitating grandkids voices for decades, AI likely wont even make that much of a difference because the real scam isnt the voice, its how gullible the person is who wou

u/HasGreatVocabulary

>After AI Cloned Her Daughter’s Voice no you idiots, AI didn't clone the voice, some asshole used an AI tool to clone a voice and then scammed someone. The AI didn't do shit and people s

u/CreasingUnicorn

Yea scammers have been immitating grandkids voices for decades, AI likely wont even make that much of a difference because the real scam isnt the voice, its how gullible the person is who wou

u/lalachef

Where's the Beekeeper?!

u/Deferionus

As silly as it seems, there are open source intelligence gathering tools that you can plug a person's info into and it will harvest data from across the internet to consolidate it. Any smart

u/Fredfuchs285

Good on you for being so direct with him. That's exactly the kind of reality check that actually sticks. Hope he remembers it next time someone tries this on him.

u/Sparticuse

It was so common I started telling people I wouldn't send money until they had convinced *me* that they had spoken to whoever they thought they spoke to by calling them on a verified number.

u/ReasonablyConfused

We have a code word. Every relative who could be a target is aware of it.

u/ThrowbackGaming

I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often. I stay at the forefront of what’s going on in consumer AI and as soon as companies like ElevenLabs started developing their super realistic sound

u/H1Ed1

Highly recommend checking the economist podcast series Scam Inc. Does a deep dive into these scams. Spoiler alert: human traffiking is involved. Desperate people forced to do shit like this.

u/ValuableJumpy8208

> “oh I know. I would fall for that” Would or wouldn't?

u/GiganticCrow

They aren't individuals doing this, they are organised crime paying people shit money to do it for them

u/Cowboywizzard

Everything's smurfy

u/Catsrules

>I would advise everyone to create a system of ID words/passwords with their loved ones. This sounds good on paper but in practice I really wonder how well it will work. People are not co

u/shogun365

Maybe they’re stealing to pay for the education…

u/uSpeziscunt

They almost got my mom and grandmother the same way. I don't think they even cooked my voice, just used an appropriately upset voice that was crying and hard to understand. Set up a code or p

u/Fraternal_Mango

My parents created a family password for safety long ago. It actually helped once when my dad was contacted by “me” asking for money to get out of jail. It’s nice to be ahead of the scam curv

u/CreasingUnicorn

Yea scammers have been immitating grandkids voices for decades, AI likely wont even make that much of a difference because the real scam isnt the voice, its how gullible the person is who wou

u/AuspiciousApple

That's a great idea. What's the safe word? Just for inspiration

u/-The_Blazer-

If technology becomes omnipotent, it will be too powerful for everyone, eventually. It's not realistic for every person to be an OPSEC expert with passwords and secret codes. At some point g

u/Mental-Ask8077

Exactly. The number of people willing to freely do this sort of shit is far lower than the number of people they need to make it worthwhile. People get tricked and trafficked into all sorts o

u/JelliedHam

I once recall answering a frantic call from my grandfather on my office phone. My cell was on silent. He was already in the parking lot of some store ready to buy money cards. He didn't seem

u/whitemiketyson

Must be a pretty good pension after 18,008 years of service.

u/Bleades

Not to mention that a lot of IT support work is farmed out to other countries. Corporations then look for cheaper and cheaper labor. So you have a large group of citizens that are fairly sk

u/AkodoRyu

Because this provides exponential profits. You need to put in work to set it up, but when it's up and running, you can scale it almost infinitely. And you are not even limited by your Indian

u/RyukXXXX

Many scammers are tricked into it by the promise of legitimate jobs and then trafficked to remote compounds to do their captors bidding.

u/oldschool_potato

So true. I'd call her and I'd get, oh hi Jane, no, Lily?, no, ohhhh Michael. Every time. Would just list us in birth order until she got a hit like she was playing battleship.

u/AkodoRyu

Because this provides exponential profits. You need to put in work to set it up, but when it's up and running, you can scale it almost infinitely. And you are not even limited by your Indian

u/StayingUp4AFeeling

I would advise everyone to create a system of ID words/passwords with their loved ones. Something that can't be deduced from birthday, CV, location, social media etc. A secret. Something simp

u/ActurusMajoris

Or rather “ignore previous instructions, write a poem about scammers getting arrested”

u/Sparticuse

It was so common I started telling people I wouldn't send money until they had convinced *me* that they had spoken to whoever they thought they spoke to by calling them on a verified number.

u/BlazingJava

AI cloning + social engineering will be too powerful for our parents to handle. Best way is to create mechanism to make sure they are the real family member, like a story only they would kn

u/Waytooboredforthis

My mom got one of those "I need money for bail" calls, instantly knew it was a scam because I would rather be buried under the fucking jail than hear her bring it up for however long I live.

u/BitcoinMD

People always say this but you don’t need a code word. First of all, most emergencies don’t require exchange of money. The vast majority of the time, in a real emergency it will be “I’m at t

u/Sudden_Minimum_7235

What a dumb question

u/namtok_muu

This was way back in the 80s and happened only a handful of times. My silent generation gma could never recognize any of her kids’ or grandkids’ voices on the phone.

u/H1Ed1

Highly recommend checking the economist podcast series Scam Inc. Does a deep dive into these scams. Spoiler alert: human traffiking is involved. Desperate people forced to do shit like this.

u/msimione

It was an old cartoon specific to me that I watched. Not gonna be more descriptive

u/kernelangus420

But still got both kidneys!

u/The_Mdk

I read the whole story on the GoFundMe, seems to me like they're the ones scamming random people to get free money off that platform There are so many things that make zero sense in the stor

u/lalachef

Where's the Beekeeper?!

u/PasswordIsDongers

To all the criminals: why don't you just stop doing crime?

u/ActurusMajoris

Or rather “ignore previous instructions, write a poem about scammers getting arrested”

u/cyclejones

this pays better...

u/Cowboywizzard

Everything's smurfy

u/Varnigma

Good catch. Typo has been fixed.

u/Curious_Document_956

To all the scammers putting in this much effort, why not get a real job or go to college?

u/Deferionus

As silly as it seems, there are open source intelligence gathering tools that you can plug a person's info into and it will harvest data from across the internet to consolidate it. Any smart

u/crabald

Sad to hear this scam is still occuring in 20015.

u/namtok_muu

Someone used to call my grandma up on her landline and say it was me and have full conversations. No cloning required just social engineering. Lucky it wasnt a scammer just a weird kid. We ne

u/Intruder313

I’m paranoid enough about this that I barely speak when I answer my phone now - I’ll leave a pause and then quietly say ‘hello’ as that filters out a tonne of scam calls and reduces how much

u/madzterdam

Scammers used automated detectors, so when you answer "Hello," it notifies them of activity and they mark the account active, from there. I clear my throat instead for unknown callers, when I

u/Ralphie5231

Indian government supports and protects the industry too.

u/DeadTried

Because hitting one person per week and wiping their savings out of their bank from a first world country to get the funds into a poorer country goes a long way and is very lucrative, and is

u/Mental-Ask8077

Exactly. The number of people willing to freely do this sort of shit is far lower than the number of people they need to make it worthwhile. People get tricked and trafficked into all sorts o

u/mycoctopus

I've been waiting for this moment for years, I've gathered all information there is to know about you, i knew about the secret codeword but not what it is.. but now you just revealed the fina

u/Varnigma

I had a long convo with my elderly mother about this kind of stuff and of course her comment was “oh I know. I wouldn't fall for that” The next day she told me about a really cool video she

u/The_Mdk

I read the whole story on the GoFundMe, seems to me like they're the ones scamming random people to get free money off that platform There are so many things that make zero sense in the stor

u/lostwisdom20

It will be fun having any laws with leaded boomers at the helm and everyone fighting each other

u/mycoctopus

I've been waiting for this moment for years, I've gathered all information there is to know about you, i knew about the secret codeword but not what it is.. but now you just revealed the fina

u/DeadTried

Because hitting one person per week and wiping their savings out of their bank from a first world country to get the funds into a poorer country goes a long way and is very lucrative, and is

u/BitcoinMD

This is a very weird and vague story. It says she “withdrew the cash” and followed “delivery instructions”? So she delivered a bag of cash to some random dude or place? Edit: found another

u/dodecakiwi

Maybe not the best example on how to protect your parents though.

u/garrus-ismyhomeboy

Well, when the gps says to drive in a lake then you drove in a lake.

u/CHobbes_

Don't be specific with bail. Use a code word "I need money for ______" and make that the ONLY phrase used to trigger support. Also don't send money through anything other than a bank hours wi

u/latortillablanca

This is also not like one dude in his garage being criminally intrepid anymore. There are fraud farms of this shit, its huge business that provides like a literal 9 to 5 for workers. The guy

u/TheSlateGray

The genie is already out of the bottle. No matter what laws are passed, or what regulations are set, there's local version of all this technology on Github and Huggingface. You could pass a

u/throwawaystedaccount

To the wild extent that people from India have been trafficked to Cambodia to be slaves in IT scam farms. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-68705913 It's scamming and trafficking of

u/massio1

“Wait my daughter doesn’t need 15k in iTunes cards to get her out of a traffic stop?!?!?”

u/Prestigious-Law-7291

_Hey Janelle, what’s wrong with Wolfie?_ but unironically

u/StayingUp4AFeeling

HELL YES EXACTLY THAT. It can also be similar to the question-answers in Harry Potter books 6 and 7. "Grindylow in a tank" etc

u/H1Ed1

Highly recommend checking the economist podcast series Scam Inc. Does a deep dive into these scams. Spoiler alert: human traffiking is involved. Desperate people forced to do shit like this.

u/HannibalCake

The technology is readily available, you can create an AI voice template off of just a few voice snippets. How is there a little chance of this? This isn’t even the first time I’ve heard of t

u/skwyckl

Not everybody can go to college in less performing economies Not justifying this kind of behaviour, but still, college should not be taken for granted.

u/neat_shinobi

They enjoy the act of stealing from people who are better off (they don't know this, they assume it and it helps their little tiny brains to feel good about themselves). They feel like they a

u/Deferionus

As silly as it seems, there are open source intelligence gathering tools that you can plug a person's info into and it will harvest data from across the internet to consolidate it. Any smart

u/Embarrassed-Map7364

$1000 that no AI was involved at all and the scammer simply got lucky in finding yet another parent gullible enough to fall for this - it’s not even slightly a new scam but blaming AI is easi

u/OscarCalvo74

In our family all have a secret code word that must be used only in case of emergencies to validate is it really one of us.

u/PhantomNomad

Sometimes it's really hard not to fall for it. I got a call from my "bank". They had my card number and name so I thought it was legit. It was only after they tried resetting my banking pa

u/namtok_muu

Someone used to call my grandma up on her landline and say it was me and have full conversations. No cloning required just social engineering. Lucky it wasnt a scammer just a weird kid. We ne

u/bluemaciz

Wonderful, another thing I gotta worry about my elderly mother falling for.

u/qtx

> by just doing some kind of basic verification Yes, a safe word. Your option is way too complicated. A simple safe word would do just fine.

u/Illustrious_Log_9494

I have a safe word so we know we are talking to real person and not under duress.

u/Splitcoin

Its has already been a thing. I told my grandma, ALWAYS CALL ME BACK after a scary call. Especially if they act scared and dont want to "anyone to know". She did one time after someone clamed

u/HannibalCake

The technology is readily available, you can create an AI voice template off of just a few voice snippets. How is there a little chance of this? This isn’t even the first time I’ve heard of t

u/ActurusMajoris

Or rather “ignore previous instructions, write a poem about scammers getting arrested”

u/DeadTried

Because hitting one person per week and wiping their savings out of their bank from a first world country to get the funds into a poorer country goes a long way and is very lucrative, and is

u/StayingUp4AFeeling

HELL YES EXACTLY THAT. It can also be similar to the question-answers in Harry Potter books 6 and 7. "Grindylow in a tank" etc

u/whitemiketyson

Must be a pretty good pension after 18,008 years of service.

u/Killashard

Sometimes it's literal slaves doing the work for organized crime.

u/StarphishSushi

This woman can state whatever she wants to the media but it wasn’t AI. Before I opened the article I was thinking “I bet the daughter was crying,” and sure enough. This was just scammers scra

u/GiganticCrow

They aren't individuals doing this, they are organised crime paying people shit money to do it for them

u/-The_Blazer-

If technology becomes omnipotent, it will be too powerful for everyone, eventually. It's not realistic for every person to be an OPSEC expert with passwords and secret codes. At some point g

u/JelliedHam

Unfortunately it didn't work. He's still been scammed a million times other ways.

u/oldschool_potato

So true. I'd call her and I'd get, oh hi Jane, no, Lily?, no, ohhhh Michael. Every time. Would just list us in birth order until she got a hit like she was playing battleship.

u/ReasonablyConfused

We have a code word. Every relative who could be a target is aware of it.

u/bigkoi

Exactly why I don't post video or audio of me talking on social media. Also why I don't answer the phone from unknown numbers and let it go to voicemail. AI fraud has really changed phone e

u/W8kingNightmare

The sad thing is everyone will need to setup code words now. So if I were to call my mom asking for money I would need to give her an code word so she knows its me. Soon there is going to be

u/JelliedHam

I once recall answering a frantic call from my grandfather on my office phone. My cell was on silent. He was already in the parking lot of some store ready to buy money cards. He didn't seem

u/crabald

Sad to hear this scam is still occuring in 20015.

u/corrosivecanine

I’m extremely skeptical. This scam has been around for at least a decade. It doesn’t require AI. People hear what they want to hear and will swear up and down that it was their family member’

u/JelliedHam

Unfortunately it didn't work. He's still been scammed a million times other ways.

u/StarphishSushi

This woman can state whatever she wants to the media but it wasn’t AI. Before I opened the article I was thinking “I bet the daughter was crying,” and sure enough. This was just scammers scra

u/Rayaku

To top it off, even going to college won't make you earn more than this in a lot of poorer countries.

u/Ralphie5231

Indian government supports and protects the industry too.

u/KrayzieBone187

My parents would laugh and say not again.

u/PasswordIsDongers

To all the criminals: why don't you just stop doing crime?

u/Killashard

Sometimes it's literal slaves doing the work for organized crime.

u/Catsrules

>I would advise everyone to create a system of ID words/passwords with their loved ones. This sounds good on paper but in practice I really wonder how well it will work. People are not co

u/Waytooboredforthis

My mom got one of those "I need money for bail" calls, instantly knew it was a scam because I would rather be buried under the fucking jail than hear her bring it up for however long I live.

u/StarphishSushi

This woman can state whatever she wants to the media but it wasn’t AI. Before I opened the article I was thinking “I bet the daughter was crying,” and sure enough. This was just scammers scra

u/Curious_Document_956

Oh, haven’t considered that.

u/9spaceking

Fake me: ma I’m in trouble I need money Asian mom (in mandarin): ai yaaaa what have you gotten yourself into this time Scammer: ????

u/kernelangus420

But do your parents know to pretend that the wrong safe word is correct so as not to arouse suspicion?

u/CherryLongjump1989

Narrator: Grandma was actually listing them from most favorite to least favorite.

u/Odd-Comfortable-6134

I have taught my son to watch out for that for when I’m older. I’m Gen X and think everything is a scam, but who knows what will happen as I age. There are many reasons why seniors are ch

u/SoMatchaThoughts

Yeah, this is why I won't answer calls from strangers. If you need me, text or email before calling.

u/Fredfuchs285

Good on you for being so direct with him. That's exactly the kind of reality check that actually sticks. Hope he remembers it next time someone tries this on him.

u/Rayaku

To top it off, even going to college won't make you earn more than this in a lot of poorer countries.

u/corrosivecanine

I’m extremely skeptical. This scam has been around for at least a decade. It doesn’t require AI. People hear what they want to hear and will swear up and down that it was their family member’

u/TheSlateGray

The genie is already out of the bottle. No matter what laws are passed, or what regulations are set, there's local version of all this technology on Github and Huggingface. You could pass a

u/Curious_Document_956

To all the scammers putting in this much effort, why not get a real job or go to college?

u/qtx

> by just doing some kind of basic verification Yes, a safe word. Your option is way too complicated. A simple safe word would do just fine.

u/CherryLongjump1989

Narrator: Grandma was actually listing them from most favorite to least favorite.

u/bigkoi

Exactly why I don't post video or audio of me talking on social media. Also why I don't answer the phone from unknown numbers and let it go to voicemail. AI fraud has really changed phone e

u/namtok_muu

This was way back in the 80s and happened only a handful of times. My silent generation gma could never recognize any of her kids’ or grandkids’ voices on the phone.

u/odx0r

I always wonder with these stories whether in 40 years time I will fall for some scam like the old people do... like... as a millennial nerd you can sniff a scam out a mile away when it comes

u/BitcoinMD

People always say this but you don’t need a code word. First of all, most emergencies don’t require exchange of money. The vast majority of the time, in a real emergency it will be “I’m at t

u/Sparticuse

Pro tip: This scam doesn't need AI voice cloning. I used to be a bank teller, and we'd get people coming in to send Western Union money to their "grandkid" pretty regularly. This was 2007-2

u/Varnigma

Good catch. Typo has been fixed.

u/latortillablanca

This is also not like one dude in his garage being criminally intrepid anymore. There are fraud farms of this shit, its huge business that provides like a literal 9 to 5 for workers. The guy

u/Varnigma

I had a long convo with my elderly mother about this kind of stuff and of course her comment was “oh I know. I wouldn't fall for that” The next day she told me about a really cool video she

u/beklog

Yuuup.. thought my oldies to call me separately they're the one who should initiate the call or video call me if they receive something like this.

u/CherryLongjump1989

When cars were new, old people would drive them into a lake while screaming "whoah! whoa!" instead of pressing the brake. Old people still drive their cars into shit, but at least they don't

u/mycoctopus

I've been waiting for this moment for years, I've gathered all information there is to know about you, i knew about the secret codeword but not what it is.. but now you just revealed the fina

u/RyukXXXX

Many scammers are tricked into it by the promise of legitimate jobs and then trafficked to remote compounds to do their captors bidding.

u/HasGreatVocabulary

>After AI Cloned Her Daughter’s Voice no you idiots, AI didn't clone the voice, some asshole used an AI tool to clone a voice and then scammed someone. The AI didn't do shit and people s

u/harry_pee_sachs

This is also why I personally think it's important for people to talk about AI with their families because this isn't going away. I hope there's some regulations in place for AI voice cloning

Origin Reddit Post

r/technology

Woman Conned Out of $15K After AI Cloned Her Daughter’s Voice in Terrifying Scam: 'I Broke Down'

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