PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The U.S. Senate Committee on Aging on Thursday heard from victims who say they are devastated by an ongoing scam that uses artificial intelligence to fabricate loved ones’ voices and steal money.
Philadelphia lawyer Gary Schildhorn told the panel he answered a phone call in 2020 and was convinced his son was on the other end of the line.
“His voice called me, told me that he had been in an accident, that he was hurt,” he recalled. “He broke his nose, he hit a pregnant woman, he was in jail, and they assigned him a public defender named Barry Goldstein to defend him.”
Another person imitating a lawyer told Schildhorn he needed to wire him $9,000 to bail his son out.
“My son was hurt, he hurt somebody else, he was in jail. I had to help him,” he thought, so he called his daughter-in-law to tell her what happened.
“A few minutes later, I get a FaceTime call from my son pointing at his nose, saying, ‘Dad, I’m fine, you’re being scammed.’”
Philadelphia police and the FBI were aware of the scam but were limited in their ability to go after the con artists.
Since going public, Schildhorn said he has heard from dozens of victims of the same scam. He wants the government to put a pathway in place that would hold fraudsters accountable.
“Voice clones can mimic the voice of a loved one and can easily dupe consumers and businesses into giving away valuable personal information or money,” said committee chair Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.
According to the Senate committee, scams cost Americans $9 billion last year — up 30% from the year before. A majority of the victims were older adults.
Casey said the committee is working to make the public more aware of these types of fraud and offer resources to protect them.