How to keep you and your loved ones safe from AI phone call scams:
By: Sophia Deligiannidis
You’ve heard of the typical phone scam call: someone pretending to have control over your inexistent Walmart account or someone asking you to discuss your car’s extended warranty. But with new AI technology, these scam calls and threats are getting too real, too fast.
We all know AI has the ability to type up an analysis paper about a book or create original art; but AI has expanded to much more, to the extent of being able to impersonate other people’s voices, their tone, mannerisms, and even how they cry.
An example of this is when earlier this year, a mom in Arizona received a call from someone who claimed to have her daughter in their possession and demanded ransom for her. They had her ‘daughter’ put on the phone, and the mother had no doubt in her mind that it was her. The mother claims that “It was her inflection. It was the way she would have cried.” (Cost, 2023).
But it was not her daughter. Her daughter was on a ski trip, safe and sound.
This scammer was using AI to impersonate her daughter’s voice, to the point that her mother couldn’t tell the difference, who almost paid $50,000 in ransom for a fake call.
Now, how can we protect ourselves from this happening to us or our loved ones?
- Have a code word, or phrase with your family members
Have a special word, whether it be food, gibberish, a word in a different language, or anything that will signal your loved ones that you are truly in danger. Say the word in a specific accent to decrease the chance of it being regenerated. AI cannot pick up on a code word you set with your family members, so if someone is using AI and cannot provide the code word, it’s an automatic sign that it is not you.
Make sure to keep this word simple and private, and write it down so no one forgets.
2. Discuss this issue with your loved ones and friends
Many parents or older family members may not be aware of this issue or threat, and bringing awareness to the issue will prepare them mentally if this were to happen. It also helps them to not blindly follow the bribe and to take it with skepticism.
3. Ask a question, one that only the person in danger would know
Ask them what they ate for dinner two nights ago, or what was the name of their favorite teacher in elementary school, a piece of information about them that can’t be found online. If they can’t answer the question or answer incorrectly, you can be assured that it is a fake call.
4. Call or text the person in danger
In the case above, the daughter was on a trip and had access to their phone. Call the person in danger or text them and ask them where they are, and if they are okay! If they answer with ease, it’s certain that the call is fake!
Also, if one has an app that shares location too, check their location and see if it aligns with where they said they were going out.
5. Avoid putting your voice online
It takes about 3 seconds of audio of someone’s voice to make an AI generation of that voice (Potuck, 2023). Take down any videos of you talking online, and set your social media accounts to private.
Using these strategies and tips, you can create awareness within your family and friends so that if this happens to you, you know how to handle the situation and how to keep yourself safe!
Sources:
Cost, B. (2023, April 12). AI clones teen girl’s voice in $1M kidnapping scam:
‘I’ve got your daughter’. NYPost. https://nypost.com/2023/04/12/
ai-clones-teen-girls-voice-in-1m-kidnapping-scam/
Potuck, M. (2023, April 27). PSA: AI voice cloning and call spoofing create
scary convincing scams, here’s how to protect yourself. 9to5Mac. Retrieved
July 15, 2023, from https://9to5mac.com/2023/04/17/
how-to-protect-ai-voice-clone-caller-id-spoof-scams/
