In what sounds like a plot straight from a science fiction movie, the Federal Trade Commission has issued a warning about scammers who use artificial intelligence to clone our voices over the phone.
Per Newser, the FTC warned, “All [the scammer] needs is a short audio clip of your family member's voice—which he could get from content posted online—and a voice-cloning program.”
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“When the scammer calls you, he'll sound just like your loved one.”
What’s even more disturbing, is that it doesn’t take an elaborate setup to capture a victim’s voice either; the tools can be found for quite cheap online. And sometimes it doesn’t even take a phone call to capture enough audio to clone a voice.
UC Berkeley digital forensics professor Hany Farid told the Washington Post earlier this month, “Now ... if you have a Facebook page ... or if you've recorded a TikTok and your voice is in there for 30 seconds, people can clone your voice.”
The FTC advises that if you ever get a call from a supposed loved one in which they ask for money, especially in the form of gift cards or crypto, or for you to wire the funds, hang up and call them back directly to make sure it's them.
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