(Note from C²: This post contains no AI generated content.)
We live in a time of great technological progress. Conversational AI has finally left the niche and entered the view of the general public through ChatGPT and Bing.
In addition to this, we’re quickly reaching a point where deepfaking voices is becoming terrifyingly easy. I’ve attempted creating deepfakes of myself and a few consenting friends and had decent results with as little as 5 seconds of sample audio.
That leads us to the future of scamming. Where we’re going, and what we can do to protect ourselves and those close to us.
The following story is just that, a story. It’s not based on an actual event. Purely on a theory of our future that could be completely wrong. It is written from the perspective of the victim to assist you in learning what to look out for.
This hypothetical scam is an evolution of the well documented Grandparent Scam.
The key difference from traditional Grandparent Scams is that the scammer obtains a voice sample from someone close to the victim. Be it from a video uploaded to social media, or by a phone-call to the subject. The scammer then uses this sample to create a realistic voice model that is in turn used to impersonate the subject.
You’re woken up in the middle of the night by a series of text messages from an unfamiliar phone number. They’re claiming to be your daughter, she’s recently gone on a trip to a far away land. She says that she’s been arrested and needs money to get out right away.
You’ve heard of scams similar to this before, so you ask, “Why aren’t you using your phone?”
She responds “They took it away! I’ll call you.”
Your phone starts ringing, and you answer, it sounds just like your daughter, maybe a little different, but she’s panicked and using a different phone, so it’s only to be expected. At this point, all skepticism has left your mind. You truly believe this is your daughter.
After some back and forth discussion, she again asks for money, and you, without suspecting anything, send it over, and wish her best of luck.
unbeknownst to you, at this point, your money is gone. you have almost no chance of getting it back.
It is at this time, that you hop on social media to see if you can find any clues as to what happened. You notice that she posted a picture while you were on the phone. She’s on a beach with her friends.
You attempt to call phone number back, but no one answers. With no luck on that front, you call your daughter’s normal phone number. She picks up, wondering why you sound panicked, and why you’re asking about her getting arrested. She has no clue what you’re talking about. You explain what happened and you both ultimately conclude that it was a scam.
If you’ve lost money to a scam like this, it was a crime. Report it to your local law enforcement agency.
It’s important to remember that you aren’t stupid or gullible for falling victim to a scam. Scammers prey on our emotions and exploit them to their fullest potential in order to manipulate us. That is why we must learn how to recognize scams.
There are many methods we can use to differentiate scammers from those close to us. It’s important that you not only rely on methods mentioned here, but also do research on other types of scams and their defenses, the defenses listed here are not suitable for defending against all types of scams.
I don’t mean a password for your accounts. I mean a password for your family. That way, if anyone ever runs into a scenario where you need to verify someone’s identity, you can just ask for the password.
Your password could be something as simple as details on a shared experience you had, or something more complex like a phrase. Something like “praise-golf-asparagus”. You can use this tool from Bitwarden to generate passphrases.
No matter what you choose, it’s important that you never discuss this password with anyone outside your family or post it online. If a scammer is able to get ahold of your password and exploit it, it is worse than not having one.
If you get a call from a family member’s phone number, tell them you need to call them back and hang up. Then, dial their phone number yourself. This ensures that you are speaking to the actual owner of the phone number and not a spoofed number.
This has the weakness of being vulnerable to SIM swap attacks though. So using additional methods is a good idea.
We’re still quite a ways off being able to deepfake someone’s face in real time. Use this to your advantage. If you’re still unsure after validating your family password, make them join a video call. If they won’t, don’t trust them.
Always be wary of urgent requests. Scammers use urgency to place massive amounts of pressure on their victims. If someone claims they need money, or personal information right away, it’s important to take a step back and ponder their request.