MARTINEZ, Calif. (KGO) — Scammers used artificial intelligence to imitate their daughter’s voice and stole thousands of dollars from a Bay Area woman in what authorities are describing as a growing number of scams.
Deborah Del Mastro said the incident began one morning in May with a call from an unknown number.
“This male voice said, “Who is this?” “So who is this?” I said. And he said, ‘This is someone I need to talk to,'” Del Mastro said.
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The caller then claimed that his 37-year-old daughter Sara was kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel because she saw something she shouldn’t have seen.
He played what del Mastro believed to be evidence.
“It was the voice of my daughter having a full-on panic attack, scared, saying, ‘Mom, I love you, I’m so sorry, I’m so scared,’ and then it was cut off,” she said.
Fearing for her daughter’s life, Del Mastro followed the caller’s instructions for five hours as she issued a series of emergency commands.
“He’s barking orders, ‘Don’t talk,’ ‘Are you with someone?’ ‘Don’t talk,’ ‘Get dressed and get out,’ ‘You’ve got to do it now, you’ve got to do it now,'” she said.
After sending $5,400 to Mexico from multiple locations, Del Mastro said she was told at a grocery store that her daughter would be released.
When I arrived and couldn’t find it, I called my daughter directly and was told that she was out and at work. Del Mastro soon realized that the ordeal was a scam.
“God, I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I couldn’t believe it. And I believed it,” Del Mastro said.
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Operation Shamrock’s Erin West said scammers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to clone audio, often by pulling audio from social media or phone calls.
“They can take just a few seconds of your voice and replicate it, and they can basically produce sounds that sound exactly like you,” West said.
Mr. West described this trend as a “fraudulent act.” “The situation is only getting worse and will continue to get worse with the use of AI and deepfake technology,” she said. She called on the public to be cautious, especially when faced with urgent requests involving money.
“If you get something that causes anxiety and requires immediate action, and that immediate action requires the movement of money, you need to know that there are red flags, this is a scam,” West said.
West suggested using secret words that only family members know to help identify the person.
Del Mastro recommends not answering random numbers and said her family is now sharing their location through their cellphones.
“Let our horrifying experience be a warning to you all, that you should have questions, as I never did,” she said.
Martinez police said they were investigating the incident, but Del Mastro said there was no hope of recovering the money.
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