Scammers can easily use voice-cloning AI to con family members: expert
Regina woman believed her grandson was on the line asking for help
The woman doesn't usually answer calls from unknown numbers, but this time she did. Her grandson was on the line, saying he'd been in an accident and rear-ended a pregnant woman.
"They towed my car and I'm headed to the police station. Just keep this between us," he said.
The 75-year-old Regina woman, who CBC is calling Jane, was in shock. CBC has agreed not to use her real name in this story.
Jane now knows she was the target of what is known as the grandparent scam. Experts say scammers are now starting to use AI to make the schemes more effective.
Jane was sure that the voice she was hearing was her grandson's.
"It was just that it sounded so much like my grandson," she said. "One time I did have a phone call, some guy phoned and said 'this is your son' and I knew it wasn't my son and I just hung up because I knew his voice on the phone. But not this time."
Her "grandson" told her to stay on the line and put on someone claiming to be his lawyer. The lawyer said he needed bail money or Jane's grandson would have to spend the next few weeks in jail. He said he needed $7,150 in cash and that there was a gag order, so she couldn't tell anyone about it.
"I went to the bank, told them a story that I was buying my grandson a car for his graduation. I go and get the money, put it in an envelope. The lawyer phones back and makes arrangements for a bondsman to come and collect the money," Jane said.
A man dressed in plain clothes came to her house and took the money.
The next morning Jane got another phone call saying the woman from the crash had a miscarriage and they were suing for $20,000.
"I can't get that much, I can get 10 [thousand]. So I went back to the bank that morning and got it," she said.
Jane said the person who called told her they couldn't send somebody to pick the money up this time, so she would have to mail the cash.
Jane had an appointment that day and couldn't go out. The man said he would phone her the next morning by 8:30 a.m., but he did not.
In the meantime, Jane heard a story on the radio about a scam happening in the area. Saskatoon police had arrested someone who'd scammed people for more than $40,000.
"That sounds exactly like what happened to me. So I got my grandson's phone number and phoned him. I asked him if he was OK or if he had been in an accident. He said no and told me to phone his father right away."
The ruse was over.
Jane and her son went back to the bank and deposited her money. While there they met a friend — another grandmother — who had been scammed the same way.
How AI is changing the scam
Jonathan Anderson, a Memorial University associate professor and computer security expert, said it has become easy and cheap for a scammer to effectively mimic someone's voice using AI.
He gave an example of a time he was invited on a radio show and used previous recordings of the host to train an AI to generate their voices.
"They were shocked by how close it sounded," Anderson said.
Anderson said it can take as little as 30 seconds of decent quality audio to clone somebody's voice.
He used a commercial website that normally has a subscription for $5/ month, but was on sale for $1/ month.
"I think awareness is pretty key. Educating people on what is possible, letting them see just how well we can clone voices and things," he said.
He recommends people to be skeptical about anything they receive electronically and be careful about where information is coming from.
Jane's son said he feels things could have gone differently in Jane's case if the bank teller had asked a few questions.
"Anything along these lines: 'Do you think you're wrapped up in a scam right now? Have you received some phone calls that were unexpected and surprising to you? Have you talked to your relatives or loved ones about why you've come to the bank today?'"
Police investigation
Police say the person who scammed Jane has been arrested in Saskatoon. Staff Sgt. Matthew Bradford from the economic crime section at Saskatoon Police said the accused is from out of town and was actively picking up money scammed from people in Regina and Saskatoon.
Bradford said the scammer had at least 10 victims.
"The mechanism that the fraudsters use is panic. They get people upset, get them worried about their loved ones, and then have them rush around, try to gather money," he said.
Bradford suggested the best thing to do is tell the caller you will get back to them, find your loved one's number and phone them directly to confirm the circumstances.
He added that fraudsters often have a lot of personal information about victims gathered from social media and other open sources.
"I encourage everybody to make sure that their privacy settings are well set on their social media profiles, that any family links aren't publicly accessible."
Bradford wants people to know that no one in the legal profession will demand money over the phone in Canada.
Fraudsters will try to make it sound like the victim has no control, but the people getting the phone calls should know that they are in control and can call their family to find out what's really going on.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
