Family member in distress or an AI voice clone? The rise of a disturbing new cyber crime scam

Vrinda, a resident of Noida, was jolted by a frantic afternoon call from her son, or so it appeared. The voice, trembling with urgency, pleaded for a swift transfer of Rs 60,000 through the Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, claiming he was under threat and urgently needed money.

The urgency in the voice and a distant command in the background painted a vivid picture of the crisis. Yet, something felt amiss when the voice called her “mummy” instead of the usual “mom”. Her concern deepened when she heard what sounded like her sobbing child on the phone, making the situation seem alarmingly real.

Driven by fear, she transferred the money, only to discover later that it was indeed a scam. Her son was never on the phone; their voice had been convincingly cloned using sophisticated software.

In recent weeks, the Delhi-National Capital Region has seen a rise in such cases of voice cloning fraud, highlighting a disturbing trend in cybercrime.

AI voice clone scams

The use of Artificial Intelligence to clone voices for scams is increasing, with cybercriminals in India leveraging this technology for extortion. In Delhi alone, cybercrime cases surged to 685 in 2022, up from 345 in 2021 and 166 in 2020, according to data from...

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