An elderly man, 82, from Sugar Land was a victim of a scam using artificial intelligence. According to a report from Chronicle news partner ABC 13, the man, known only as Jerry, lost US$17,000 (RM79,381) after falling prey to a scam on Oct 21. The caller identified himself as a sergeant from the San Antonio Police Department and told Jerry that his son-in-law was arrested for causing a serious accident. Another voice, which Jerry believed to be his son-in-law, asked him for money to get out of jail. Jerry then arranged for a courier driver to pick up the money from his bank account.
Jerry had written down the license plate number of the vehicle that picked up his money from the assisted living facility he lives in with his wife in Sugar Land. However, the police didn’t make any progress with this lead.
Having lost a significant amount of money, Jerry expressed his desperation, stating that he may need to find a job to recover the lost money. Imposter scams have led to losses of US$2.6bil (RM12.14bil) in 2022, as reported by the US Federal Trade Commission. The use of artificial intelligence in phone scams, particularly to clone voices, has proliferated since the technology became more accessible in the past year, according to AI experts.
According to Steve Grobman, the chief technology officer for the cyber security company McAfee, cybercriminals can now use generative AI for fake voices and deepfakes in ways that used to require a lot more sophistication. McAfee also reported that scammers can use just a few seconds of audio from social media posts or personal voice messages to create a believable clone that can be manipulated to suit their needs. President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing technology companies to release testing data and urging government agencies to set guidelines centering on cybersecurity.
