INDIANAPOLIS — Imagine if someone could take your voice and make you say whatever they want.
It's not only possible, but easy to do thanks to artificial intelligence.
This is known as voice cloning and is becoming one of the most common scams to try to steal your money.
“Creating synthetic content has never been easier,” said Scott Shackelford of the IU Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. “You can do it with a few keystrokes. You can create images. You can create videos. Anyone can create audio files.”
Easy spoofing
Shackelford used a free website called PlayHT to demonstrate how it works. After creating an account, Shackelford uploaded a video of a recent lecture he gave and typed in his voice the message he wanted the computer to say.
It took only a few seconds for the computer to read the next message in his voice. “It's late on Friday and I don't have much time. Could you please make a quick wire transfer before I leave? Click here for details.”
“I didn't say a single word like that in my speech. I didn't talk about any of this,” Shackelford explained.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), consumers lost nearly $3 billion to identity fraud in 2023. Shackelford said his artificial intelligence has made trading easier and more convincing than ever before.
“People just aren’t used to it yet,” he said. We're used to receiving robocalls all the time, but when we actually get a call, it sounds like we're talking to a grandchild or a parent, but they're in some kind of difficult situation, and they suddenly hang up. That's definitely disturbing. ”
Let's test it
FTC data shows that adults 60 and older are 45% more likely to fall victim to this type of scam. We wanted to see how easy it could be for young people. So, with her mother's permission, I tried it on my 13-year-old niece.
Like most teenagers, Amara spends a lot of time on her phone and social media. Her mother said navigating this brave new world can be scary.
“It's scary how sensitive a child can be to anything, and then you add this component that can emulate or mirror something that's familiar,” my sister said. “We teach, 'Don't get in a car with strangers,' but now it's like out the window. Now it's 'Stranger?' Is this true? ? ”
Using the same website as Ms. Shackelford, I uploaded a clip of me from a news program and typed a message simply asking for my niece's address. This program allows you to adjust how fast and slow you speak, and even what emotions you express.
He then sent her audio via text from a number he didn't recognize.
“For a second, I thought, 'That's Max's voice,'” Amara said. “I understand that, but at the time I was like, 'Wait, that's like super off.'
She immediately became suspicious and expressed it directly to her mother.
“I wasn't really listening. I just put it on the speakers and thought, 'Yeah, this is Max,'” Sarah said. She said, “I was surprised she was thinking otherwise.''
Her suspicions were a relief to her mother. To her, like most people of her generation, AI is not an alien concept.
“I think their affinity for technology makes them a little bit more aware of the potential of AI,” Sarah said. “I think it's probably more than we originally thought. It's easy to assume they're vulnerable.”
Even if she wasn't fooled by it, the fact that she didn't deny it completely shows how convincing this technology is. Shackelford said it has never been easier to pretend to be someone else because we can know who we are online.
“You don't need specialized training in things like cybersecurity or coding,” Shackelford said. “If you can download an app, you can do this.”
Will the rules be changed soon?
The FTC is considering changing rules to prohibit impersonating someone else, and some states have enacted laws on the books to protect biometric information.
Shackelford said Indiana is not among them.
The FTC urges you to be careful if you find yourself in a situation where a family member or friend asks for money and says they're in trouble.
The agency advises people to call the person and use a number known to belong to that person to verify the story. If that's not possible, she recommends calling another family member or friend to reach out.
Another way to tell if a scammer is a scammer is if they request money to be sent in a way that makes it difficult to get your money back, such as by wire transfer, gift card, or cryptocurrency.
If you encounter this situation, the FTC also recommends reporting it to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.