Some criminals are now using AI technology to replicate the voices of children and use them in fake kidnap-for-ransom schemes to extort money from the family members of the supposed victims.
There were at least two cases of phone scams reported in a Washington state school district over the past months. Highline Public Schools in Burien recently issued a notice warning its community members about the phone scam. In the notice, it said there were two individuals in the school district who were targeted by the scammers.
"Both incidents involved scammers falsely claiming they kidnapped a family member. The scammers played AI (artificial intelligence) generated audio recording of the family member, then demanded a ransom," the notice read.
The identities of the victims were not publicly disclosed. It was also unclear whether the families paid out the ransom.
Highline Public Schools noted that scammers typically target families who speak English and said they also use phone numbers from different area codes when contacting their targets.
Read more: 1 in 10 Children Say Their Friends Used AI To Generate Deepfake Nudes of Their Peers: Survey
Another AI Phone Scam Victim
Prior to the cases in Washington, Arizona mother Jennifer DeStefano nearly fell victim to the AI phone scheme. In a June testimony before Congress, DeStefano said she answered a call where the scammers used AI to make her believe her daughter Brianna was kidnapped and asked for $1 million in exchange for her child's safety.
"[She was] crying and sobbing," she said in the testimony, as reported by Fox News.
DeStefano, who had no idea the scammers were using AI at the time, said the perpetrators brought down the ransom demand to $50,000 in cash when she told them they did not have $1 million.
DeStefano said her husband located Briana safely at home in her bed. She noted that Briana was not aware that her voice was being in the fake kidnap-for-ransom scheme.
How Scammers Are Using AI To Extort Victims
Phone scammers replicate a person's voice in two ways. First, scammers record a person's voice. They often do so by calling their target. They can also collect a person's voice through social media posts. They will then use AI to manipulate the same voice to say full sentences.
