The Peekskill Central School District in New York is warning families of a disturbing new scam in which criminals use generative artificial intelligence to mimic children’s voices in an attempt to extort money from unsuspecting parents.
In a message sent to the community this week, Superintendent David Mauricio revealed that two families had recently received calls from strangers claiming to have kidnapped a loved one and demanding a ransom. The realistic nature of these calls made the threats particularly alarming.
While fake kidnapping calls aimed at exploiting worried parents are a familiar tactic for some criminals, advancements in technology are making these scams far more convincing and harder to detect.
In this new, high-tech version of the scam — referred to as a “Virtual Kidnapping Extortion Call” — criminals use AI-powered tools to replicate a child’s voice, lending a chilling sense of credibility to their demands, Mauricio wrote in the message, according to Patch Peekskill-Cortlandt.
Just last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warning that criminals are increasingly leveraging generative AI to enhance “the believability of their schemes.”
Federal investigators describe this method, known as “vocal cloning” or “AI-generated audio,” as a sophisticated tactic in which realistic-sounding audio clips of a loved one in distress are created and used to coerce victims into paying ransoms.
To avoid becoming a victim of this extortion scheme, Mauricio urged parents to check their privacy settings on social media accounts, review any information published online and refer to tips offered by the National Institutes of Health.
“Also,” the superintendent urged, “check what platforms your child is using and what information they are providing.”
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