Victims across the US defrauded by AI voice cloning scams impersonating family members

Summary

Patty Greiner lost $15,000 after receiving a text claiming her Amazon account was hacked and later being contacted by individuals impersonating IRS agents and law enforcement. Scammers are using AI to clone voices by extracting personal information from social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Cybersecurity expert Dave Hatter demonstrated how easily a voice can be cloned using free software, warning that this could lead to a surge in crime. Impersonators range from individuals to organized criminal gangs and nation-state actors from countries like China, Russia, and Iran. Experts advise not to use links or numbers provided by suspicious callers and to verify the legitimacy of requests directly with the organization or person involved.