The Palm Beach Police Department is issuing a warning to locals about a family-emergency scam that makes use of artificial intelligence to clone the voices of family members in order to make false calls seem more convincing.
According to a press release issued by the police on Wednesday, one of the scams involves a typical tactic known as the “grandchild arrest ruse.” In this scheme, a caller appears as a grandchild and claims to have been detained, and is in desperate need of a bond or bail payment.
According to the government, although the frauds themselves are not new, the use of AI-generated voices as part of the fraud is a relatively recent innovation. According to the authorities, there have been new complaints that these calls employ artificial intelligence-generated sounds to clone the voice of a family member in order to make the tone sound more convincing.
Be on the lookout for anybody who requests or demands payment through money transfers, cryptocurrencies, or gift cards, the local police department said, and check any strange stories or claims by getting in touch with a family member or other loved ones or acquaintances.
Capt. Will Rothrock, a spokesperson for the Palm Beach Police Department, stated that although there are “no cases with our agency at this time,” the department is aware of the trend and wanted to get ahead of it.