Must-follow ‘phone call rule’ can save you from AI ‘voice cloning’ – breaking it even once puts you at serious scam risk

BE very careful when you answer the phone: Criminals might be waiting with a dangerous AI tool.

Cybersecurity experts have warned over crooks using artificial intelligence to clone the voices of victims.

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AI can copy the voice of a person based on just a few seconds of audio.

And this can be used to create convincing AI audio deepfakes, which can be exploited by criminals to hoodwink your friends, family members, and colleagues out of money or info.

That’s why it’s very important to avoid picking up calls from unknown numbers and immediately speaking, experts told The U.S. Sun.

“Never answer calls from unknown numbers,” Chris Hauk, Consumer Privacy Advocate at Pixel Privacy, said.

“If a call from an unknown party is legitimate, they will likely leave a voice message telling you about the call.

“You can then return the call to a known good number and ask for the party that called.

“Don’t worry, if it’s important they’ll find them.”

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Just make sure you’ve got your voicemail set up first.

That way, you can avoid missing important calls – and prevent crooks from stealing your voice.

However, you should take some steps before shutting out unknown numbers altogether.

“In general, I let unknown numbers go to voicemail – genuine callers will usually leave a message, automated calls and scammers will not,” said Curtis Wilson, of cyber-firm Synopsys, speaking to The U.S. Sun.

“To facilitate this approach, it’s also important to save important numbers (like your doctor or child’s school), so you recognise a call you want to answer immediately.”

As AI grows more advanced, it will become easier to execute this kind of scam.

Phone scam statistics

Americans are bombarded with three billion spam phone calls a month. What are the figures regarding the number of victims and the amount of money lost to fraudsters

• In 2022, Americans lost some $39.5 billion to phone scams, with 68.4 million US citizens affected, according to TechReport.
• The average phone scam victim lost $567.41 each in 2021, a major rise on the 2021 figure of $182 per victim, according to Hiya.
• The majority of scams happen over the phone, with fraudsters twice as likely to call compared to text in 2021, as reports the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
• In 2021, the US saw a 56% increase in spam phone calls with 60% of those being robocalls.
• US residents experienced an average of 18 spam phone calls per month, although some experts believe the true figure may be as high as 31 per month.
• Many phone calls from reputable businesses may be marked wrongly as spam, but 38% of companies have no idea whether they’re being marked as “potential fraud” or not, according to Hiya.
• Never hand over any personal or financial information if you suspect a phone call is a scam. For instance, your bank will never ask you for such details in full over the phone. 
• To cut down on spam phone calls and scams, sign up for the Do Not Call Registry. Telemarketers, by law, will need to check that list before they call you up.
• Downloading third-party apps such as Hiya, Nomorobo, or Truecaller can help filter out annoying spam calls.
• Try not to share your phone number unless you have to, especially online or with sketchy sources.

And crooks will need very little time to obtain enough of your voice to clone it.

“There have been many cases around the world where an individual’s voice has been cloned by criminals,” warned Simon Newman, the Cyber Resilience Centre for London chief and International Cyber Expo Advisory Council Member, speaking to The U.S. Sun.

“In fact, a few seconds of hearing someone speak may be enough to clone their voice. If you do receive a call from an unknown number, it’s best to be cautious.

“If you answer the call, it’s important not to give away any personal information. If you have any doubts, hang up.

It’s also important to save important numbers (like your doctor or child’s school).

Curtis WilsonSynopsys

“You can also block unknown callers and divert potential scammers to voicemail on your smartphone.”

SILENCE!

Apple has built an iOS setting to do just that on your iPhone.

It’s been available since iOS 13, so make sure you’re running that version or later by going into Settings > General > Software Update.

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Apple explains, “This blocks phone numbers that you’ve never been in contact with and don’t have saved in your contacts list.

“If you’ve previously texted with someone using their phone number or if a person has shared their phone number with you in an email, a phone call from that number will go through.”

The iPhone maker recommends adding any important numbers to your contacts before turning this feature on.

Any call that is blocked by this feature will still go to voicemail and appear in your recent calls list.

But it won’t create a notification while the call is ringing.

If you think you’re on the line with a scammer using AI to pretend to be someone you know, there are some other steps you must follow.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk