TERRIFYING MOMENT

Mom Received AI-Generated Scam Call of Daughter Saying She Was Kidnapped

When she picked up her phone, she heard her daughter’s panicked voice and an unknown man warning her not to call 911 and demanding a $1 million ransom.

When an Arizona mother picked up a call from an unknown number earlier this year, she was immediately met with the panicked voice of her daughter, Brianna, and an unknown male voice warning her not to call 911 and demanding a $1 million ransom. “Mom! I messed up!” screamed a girl’s voice that Jennifer DeStefano knew to be her daughter’s. It took an agonizing four minutes—complete with a call to police and her daughter—for DeStefano to realize the call was actually a scam: her daughter was safe and her daughter’s voice was actually generated by AI technology, according to CNN. This scheme is increasing in popularity, CNN reports, with scammers taking brief clips of people’s voices from online content—like a social media post—to recreate their intonation in order to extort their family members.