Florida woman loses $15,000 to AI voice cloning scam mimicking daughter’s distress call

Summary

A Florida woman lost $15,000 after scammers used AI to mimic her daughter’s voice in a distress call following a fake car accident. The incident occurred on July 12 when Sharon received a call from someone using deepfake audio to sound like her daughter, who was allegedly arrested and needed bail money. A second caller posing as a lawyer requested $15,000, and Sharon delivered the cash to a black Chevy Tahoe as instructed. The scam became more elaborate when a second call claimed the injured woman’s unborn child had died and requested an additional $30,000. Sharon later confirmed with her real daughter that the calls were fake, and the family launched a GoFundMe campaign to recover the lost funds. The case highlights the increasing threat of AI-powered voice cloning scams, which can use short audio clips from social media or voicemails to create convincing imitations.