ARE there recordings of your voice online? If so, it could be cloned by AI scammers.
The internet is awash with free AI web services that make it quick and easy to replicate a voice — all you need is a recording.
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Using a cloned version of a person’s voice, scammers can use it to call their loved ones, pretending to be in danger and requesting emergency money.
It’s a growing tend, and Americans have already lost thousands of dollars, according to a report by The Washington Post.
Data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggests that in 2022 there were over 36,000 reports of “impostor scams,” with more than 5,000 of these happening over the phone.
Reported losses of impost scams reached $11 million.
How does it work?
Any footage of you online, from a graduation speech on YouTube, to a holiday reel on your Instagram or a clip of you on your daughter’s TikTok, can now be replicated with AI voice-generating software.
The publicly available software analyzes your voice, including your age, gender and accent.
Next, it searches a large online database of voices to find similar ones and predict patterns, according to the report.
It re-creates the unique pitch, timber and individual sounds of a voice, to generate an a similar-sounding clone.
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Armed with a clone of your voice, text-to-speech tools allow scammers to call your loved ones and request emergency money.
One company capable of this is ElevenLabs, that started in 2022 and has already generated controversy for creating a replica of Emma Watson’s voice to recite Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kamf,” according to Vice.
In January, ElevenLabs, tweeted that it was seeing “an increasing number of voice cloning misuse cases,” and has subsequently announced that the cloning feature would no longer be available to users of the free version of its tool VoiceLab.
What to do if you’re targeted
If you are called by a love one in an emergency, but the number is unknown, or their language and voice sounds slightly off — you may be a target of a scam.
Call their saved contact number in your phone to verify the story before you do anything.
If you do fall victim of an AI voice scam, immediately inform the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
