Thieves use AI voice cloning technology to steal your money

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) — Thieves want to steal your money and will use your voice or the voice of someone you know to do so.

Thousands of people have lost millions of dollars to a so-called AI voice scam, which clones the voice to trick people into sending them money quickly.

“All they need is a clip, a three-second clip of your voice,” said Nicole Cordero of BBB Eastern Carolinas. “In many cases, they can easily find it on social media and clone it so it says whatever they need to say to get money from you.”

“It’s someone who sounds like someone you know and feels like you need to take care of it immediately and send money,” Cordero said.

Paul Cerkez, a computer science professor at Coastal Carolina University, focuses on artificial intelligence.

“If I have a clone of a person’s voice, for example of someone doing a voice-over or something like that, and I can record a whole bunch of that person’s conversations, I build a really strong clone database for that particular person, and now, if I want, all I have to do is say the following words in the voice of… and it will generate that sentence of pure text in that person’s voice,” Cerkez said.

Consumers lost a record $10 billion to fraud in 2023, and fake account scams were the most common. Most scammers ask you to wire money or pay via Venmo or Cash App.

According to the BBB, if you receive a call from someone asking you for money, resist the temptation to act immediately. Also, if in doubt, don’t send money and always back up your accounts.