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Scammers used AI voice cloning technology to impersonate a woman's daughter, claiming she was kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel, and successfully defrauded the mother of $5,400 through wire transfers.
In May, Deborah Del Mastro from Martinez, California received a phone call from scammers who used artificial intelligence to clone her 37-year-old daughter Sarah's voice. The caller claimed Sarah had been kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel after witnessing something she shouldn't have. The scammers played AI-generated audio of what sounded like Sarah having a panic attack, saying 'I love you, mom, I'm so sorry, I'm so scared.' Believing her daughter was in danger, Del Mastro followed the caller's urgent commands for five hours, wiring $5,400 to Mexico from multiple locations. The scammers told her Sarah would be released at a grocery store, but when Del Mastro arrived and couldn't find her daughter, she called Sarah directly and discovered her daughter was safely at work. Authorities describe this as part of a growing trend where scammers use AI voice cloning technology, requiring only a few seconds of audio from social media or phone calls to create convincing voice replicas. Martinez police are investigating the case, but Del Mastro does not expect to recover the stolen money.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
