Dec 1, 2024·Houston, United States 76-year-old Houston man loses $20,000 to AI voice-cloning fraud leading to federal lawsuit against PlainsCapital and Pathward N.A.
A 76-year-old Houston man, Gary Cunningham, alleges that $20,000 was fraudulently transferred from his Chase account after criminals hacked his email and used AI voice-cloning technology to impersonate him. The scam convinced his accountant to redirect a routine business transfer to a bank in North Dakota, which Cunningham had never heard of. He filed a federal lawsuit on June 5 in the Southern District of Texas against PlainsCapital and Pathward N.A., claiming the banks were negligent in protecting against the fraud. Cunningham, who is representing himself in the case, says he wants to recover his money and prevent others from falling victim to similar scams. The FBI estimates $3 billion is lost annually to elder fraud, and experts warn that AI-related scams are growing both domestically and internationally. PlainsCapital has not commented on the lawsuit, and Pathward N.A. has not responded to inquiries.
Fraud & Financial