This is happening more and more often, and the technology is getting more convincing. Scammers are now using powerful AI voice-cloning apps to steal voices, or mimic someone you trust, and use them to pull off convincing scams.
Ben Colman, co-founder and CEO of Reality Defender, says, "A deepfake is taking anyone's likeness, whether it's their face, a single image from LinkedIn or online, or a few seconds of audio, and using a pre-trained model, replicating their likeness to make them say or do anything you want."
Deepfakes are now so advanced, it's even hard for experts to tell the difference.
Colman tells us, "Over the last few years, there's been an explosion of calls claiming that, 'We have your daughter. She's in trouble, send money, or else.' Well, what's happened recently is the call comes in and says, 'We are your daughter. Hi, I'm your daughter. I'm in trouble, send money right now.'"
What's worse: there are no federal laws to stop someone from cloning your voice without your permission. Consumer Reports reviewed six popular voice cloning apps, uncovering a troubling trend.
Derek Kravitz of Consumer Reports says, "Four of the six apps had no meaningful way to ensure that the user had the original speaker's consent to voice clone them. And the two other apps were better, had more safeguards, but we found ways around them."
While it's practically impossible to erase your digital footprint, CR says there are some steps you can take to protect yourself.
Kravitz advises, "The first thing is just knowing that deep fake scams like this exist. The second thing is using two-factor authentication on all of your financial accounts. That means having an extra security feature on your smartphone device that requires you to input a security code or respond to an email when trying to gain access to your bank accounts. And then the third thing is just being wary of calls, any type of texts or any type of emails that are asking you for your personal financial information or just personal data."
And finally, do a gut check. Colman says, "By default, you should not believe anything you see online. You should always follow just standard common sense."
You can read more details of Consumer Reports' investigation here.