That panicky call from a relative? It could be a thief using a voice clone, Security Experts From Secifi.com Say
For years, a common scam has involved getting a call from someone purporting to be an authority figure, like a police officer, urgently asking you to pay money to help get a friend or family member out of trouble.
Now People Can Call you in Voices Exactly Like Your Boss Friend Or Wife asking you to send money at once in an emergency !
Now, federal regulators warn, such a call could come from someone who sounds just like that friend or family member — but is actually a scammer using a clone of their voice.
The US Federal Trade Commission issued a consumer alert this week urging people to be vigilant for calls using voice clones generated by artificial intelligence, one of the latest techniques used by criminals hoping to swindle people out of money.
“All [the scammer] needs is a short audio clip of your family member’s voice — which he could get from content posted online — and a voice-cloning program,” the commission warned. “When the scammer calls you, he’ll sound just like your loved one.”
If you’re not sure it’s a friend or relative, hang up and call them
The FTC suggests that if someone who sounds like a friend or relative asks for money — particularly if they want to be paid via a wire transfer, cryptocurrency or a gift card — you should hang up and call the person directly to verify their story.
A reporter gets her voice cloned
Given the complexities of speech synthesis, it’s quite a shock to find out just how easy it is to order one up. For a basic conversational build, all a customer has to do is record themselves saying a bunch of scripted lines for roughly an hour. And that’s about it.
“We extract 10 to 15 minutes of net recordings for a basic build,” says Speech Morphing founder and CEO Fathy Yassa.
The hundreds of phrases I record so that Speech Morphing can build my digital voice double seem very random: “Here the explosion of mirth drowned him out.” “That’s what Carnegie did.” “I’d like to be buried under Yankee Stadium with JFK.” And so on.
But they aren’t as random as they appear. Yassa says the company chooses utterances that will produce a wide enough variety of sounds across a range of emotions – such as apologetic, enthusiastic, angry and so on – to feed a neural network-based AI training system. It essentially teaches itself the specific patterns of a person’s speech.
A spokesperson for the FTC said the agency couldn’t provide an estimate of the number of reports of people who’ve been ripped off by thieves using voice-cloning technology.
But what sounds like a plot from a science fiction story is hardly made-up.
In 2019, scammers impersonating the boss of a U.K.-based energy firm CEO demanded $243,000. A bank manager in Hong Kong was fooled by someone using voice-cloning technology into making hefty transfers in early 2020. And at least eight senior citizens in Canada lost a combined $200,000 earlier this year in an apparent voice-cloning scam.
Amazon’s Alexa could soon speak in a dead relative’s voice, making some feel uneasy
“Deepfake” videos purporting to show celebrities doing and saying things they haven’t are getting more sophisticated, and experts say voice-cloning technology is advancing, too.
Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor of computer science at Arizona State University, told NPR that the cost of voice cloning is also dropping, making it more accessible to scammers.
“Before, it required a sophisticated operation,” Kambhampati said. “Now small-time crooks can use it.”
The Growing Threat of Voice Clone Scams: How to Spot and Avoid Them
As technology advances, so do the methods of fraudsters. Voice clone scams are a growing threat, with scammers using artificial intelligence to mimic a person’s voice and steal their identity. To protect yourself from this type of scam, it is important to understand how to spot and avoid them. In this article, we will discuss the growing threat of voice clone scams and how to identify and prevent them.
Voice cloning technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated and, as a result, so are the scams that use it. Voice clone scams are a growing threat that use artificial intelligence to mimic a person’s voice and con unsuspecting victims out of their money. The technology is so advanced that it can even mimic an individual’s accent and intonation. It’s important to be aware of this growing threat and know how to spot and avoid it.
The most common type of voice clone scam is a phishing attack. Scammers use a cloned voice to impersonate a legitimate business or person in order to gain access to personal information or money. They may also use the cloned voice to make fraudulent phone calls or send text messages. It’s important to be wary of any requests for personal information or money, even if they seem to come from a legitimate source.
Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself from voice clone scams. Be sure to verify any requests for personal information or money by calling the source directly. Additionally, be sure to use strong passwords and two-factor authentication for any online accounts. Finally, it’s important to be aware of the latest scams and stay up to date on the latest security measures.
Voice clone scams are on the rise, and they can be incredibly difficult to spot. Criminals use sophisticated technology to create convincing copies of people’s voices, allowing them to impersonate someone else and scam victims out of their money. It’s important to be aware of the dangers of voice cloning and take steps to protect yourself.
To help you stay safe, here are some tips on how to spot and avoid voice clone scams:
• Be wary of any requests for personal or financial information. If someone is asking for your bank account details or other sensitive information, be sure to verify their identity before providing it.
• Be suspicious of any requests for money. If someone is asking you to send them money, be sure to double-check their identity and the legitimacy of the request.
• Be aware of any changes in the tone of voice. If someone’s voice suddenly changes or sounds different, it could be a sign that the person you’re talking to is not who they claim to be.
• Be cautious of any requests to download software or apps. If someone is asking you to download a program or app, be sure to check its legitimacy before doing so.
• Be mindful of any requests to purchase items.
Excerpt
Voice clone scams are on the rise and can be difficult to spot. They involve fraudsters using technology to imitate the voice of a trusted person or company to dupe people into giving away personal information or money. It is important to be aware of the signs of a voice clone scam and take steps to protect yourself.