26, Mar, 2024
AI voice clone new tool of cybercrime, 7 plaints filed
INDORE: Artificial intelligence (AI) powered voice has become a new tool for cybercriminals to target people. With the use of AI it has now become easier to clone images, videos and voices of friends and family members.
Crime branch of Indore police have received seven cases so far in which complainants were duped of lakhs of rupees by cybercriminals with cloned voices of their family members using AI.
In five of these cases, the victims whose voice was cloned were youths studying or working outside the district.
Additional DCP Rajesh Dandotiya said, the modus operandi typically involves perpetrators sending recorded messages or engaging victims in conversations where the cloned voice of a loved one in distress is used, prompting immediate compliance from the unsuspecting targets.
Dandotiya said, “We have received seven complaints in which the complainants have claimed that the accused either sent them a recorded message of their children’s voice or made them speak to someone with a similar voice. The parents were so shaken to hear the ‘desperate’ voice of their wards seeking help, they immediately complied.”
“We are considering that artificial intelligence was used to commit these online frauds,” said Dandotiya.
Panicked and misled by the cloned voice, the complainants transferred lakhs of rupees throught online transactions. Recounting one of the incidents, Dandotiya shared that an Indore-based man received a call from a scammer, who had used voice cloning to impersonate his son, who studies in Kota of Rajasthan.
The accused made voice call to the father and told him that his son had been arrested in a rape case and was in custody. They threatened to carry out action and even an encounter if they did not transfer Rs 3 lakh into their account. “Goli mar denge tere bete ko (Will shoot your son) claimed the caller,” said Dandotiya.
When the father tried calling his son on his phone using another number, it was not received by him. Terrified and unable to reach his son on his phone through alternate means, the distraught father transferred Rs 1.5 lakh into the designated account. It was only two hours later that he received a call from his actual son, who was safe and sound in his coaching class, completely unaware of the distressing situation concocted by the scammers.
Shocked by the realization of being duped, the victim realized the extent of the deception. Despite the claims of the fraudsters and convincing cloned voice, his son was never in any danger.