In a chilling twist on an old scam, scammers are now leveraging AI to make their threats even more convincing, preying on the fears of unsuspecting parents. As one Ohio man explains, the terror of answering the phone to hear your child’s voice in distress cannot be matched.
WCPO News reports that Kevin David, a successful Ohio appliance shop owner and devoted father, recently faced a sophisticated kidnapping scam that left him shaken to the core. The scam, which has been targeting parents across the country, uses advanced AI technology to simulate the voices of their children, making the calls appear frighteningly realistic. Breitbart News has reported on the rise in AI-generated voice scams, which often target parents and grandparents.
David received a call that seemed to be from his daughter Brooke, who sounded calm at first but quickly became hysterical. “It was Brooke’s voice,” David insisted. “It started out very calm and slow, with her saying ‘Dad this is Brooke.'” The situation escalated when a man took over the call, claiming to have Brooke in the back of his car and demanding $5,000 in ransom.
Fortunately, a quick-thinking co-worker contacted Brooke directly and confirmed that she was safe at school. However, the incident left David shaken, as the scammers had convincingly mimicked his daughter’s voice and knew both of their names. He explains, “They had her voice, they had her name, they had my name.”
Breitbart News previously reported on a New York City mother who faced a similar scam:
The New York Post reports that residents of the Upper West Side of New York City have been left in a state of shock and fear as scammers deploy AI to simulate the voices of their children, creating realistic and distressing scenarios. One mother recounted her harrowing experience, where she received a call from what she believed was her 14-year-old daughter, crying and apologizing, claiming she had been arrested. The voice was so convincing that the mother was prepared to hand-deliver $15,500 in cash for bail, believing her daughter had rear-ended a pregnant woman’s car while driving underage.
The scam was revealed when her actual daughter, who was in school taking a chemistry exam, contacted her to let her know she was safe. Reflecting on the incident, the mother stated, “I’m aware it was really stupid – and I’m not a stupid person – but when you hear your child’s voice, screaming, crying, it just puts you on a different level.”
To protect themselves from these scams, families are advised to be cautious about sharing personal information, such as travel plans, on social media. The FBI also recommends establishing a family password to verify if a loved one is genuinely in trouble. If faced with a ransom demand, it’s crucial to remain calm and look for signs of a scam, such as requests for payment via prepaid gift cards or cryptocurrency ATMs.
Read more at WCPO News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
