A man in Florida has claimed that scammers used artificial intelligence (AI) to clone his voice and try to dupe his parents of $30,000 (over ₹25 lakh).
Jay Shooster, who is running for Florida State House, claimed that cyber criminals lied to his parents that he was injured in a car accident and needed an immense amount of money to bail himself out of jail.
“Today, my dad got a phone call no parent ever wants to get. He heard me tell him I was in a serious car accident, injured, and under arrest for a DUI and I needed $30,000 to be bailed out of jail. But it wasn’t me. There was no accident. It was an AI scam,” Shooster wrote in a series of posts on X.
He said that this incident happened mere days after he appeared on television for his upcoming election campaign.
“Fifteen seconds of me talking. More than enough to make a decent AI clone,” he wrote.
Shooster, who had warned people about similar incidents in the past, was shocked that such a scam could happen so close to home.
“I’ve literally given presentations about this exact sort of scam, posted online about it, and I’ve talked to my family about it, but they still almost fell for it. That’s how effective these scams are. Please spread the word to your friends and family,” he advised.
“Prioritize regulating the AI industry…”
Shooster has used this incident to highlight how it is necessary for better AI regulations to be brought about so such scammers could be stopped. He painted a picture of a worrisome future when it would be impossible to know if the person on the phone is actually a loved one.
“Can you imagine your parent doubting whether they’re actually talking to you when you really need help?” he asked.
He concluded: “All of this is just a further reminder that we need leaders who will prioritize regulating the AI industry. The world is going to be radically transformed by this technology and we need to act now to ensure that it makes the world better and not worse.”
Read the viral post here:
Today, my dad got a phone call no parent ever wants to get. He heard me tell him I was in a serious car accident, injured, and under arrest for a DUI and I needed $30,000 to be bailed out of jail.
But it wasn’t me. There was no accident. It was an AI scam.
— Jay Shooster (@JayShooster) September 28, 2024
Internet reacts:
After Shooster’s series of posts, X users flooded his comments and agreed that such scams were becoming increasingly common and alarmingly hard to spot.
“Probably not a coincidence. And, it is nonetheless identity theft,” one user said.
However, some users questioned what regulations would be able to tackle the growing problem.
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