Scammers extort $25,000 from elderly California man using AI voice technology to claim his son was in a ‘terrible accident’ and needed money for bail: ‘Absolutely his vote’

A California senior was scammed out of $25,000 by scammers using an AI voice that imitated his son to make him believe his loved one was in a “horrible accident” and needed money to get out to be released from prison.

The man, identified only as Anthony, said he received a call from his son telling him he hit a pregnant woman while driving and she was “taken to the intensive care unit,” according to ABC 7.

“It was his voice. It was absolutely his voice,” he told the outlet. “There was no doubt about it.”

Anthony said that after a brief conversation – using his son’s AI-generated voice – the scammer hung up, but minutes later received a second call from a man claiming to be his son’s lawyer, Michael Roberts.

“He said, ‘You need to get $9,200 as quickly as possible if you want your son to get out of prison.’ Otherwise he has 45 days,” Anthony said.

Anthony was suspicious of the lawyer’s call and said he tried to call his son to check whether he needed the bail, but his call went to voicemail.

The worried father then went to his bank and told the teller that he needed a large sum of money to install solar panels – so as not to raise any unwanted questions about the situation.

After returning home, Anthony had his daughter call the lawyer again, who told them that an Uber would be coming by shortly to pick up the deposit.

Surveillance cameras outside his home show his daughter checking the Uber license plate and handing the money to the driver.

However, the scammers weren’t finished yet.

Shortly after the driver left, Anthony received another call, this time from a man named Mark Cohen, posing as another attorney in his son’s case, telling him that the pregnant woman had died and his son’s bail had been increased be.

“The bail has been increased. Mark Cohen says another $15,800 to $25,000,” Anthony said.

Fearing that his son desperately needs the money to get out of prison on bail, the worried father returns to the bank and repeats the entire process.

After withdrawing more money from the bank and giving the second payment to another Uber driver, the calls stopped and Anthony wondered if his son had been released from prison.

While they waited, he said his daughter began researching the number online and finding out what he had been told and made a disheartening discovery.

“‘Dad, I hope I’m wrong. I think you just got scammed out of $25,000,” he recalled his daughter telling him.

Anthony said he was so worried about his son’s fate that it “didn’t even cross his mind” until he was cheated out of a large portion of his savings.

“I never had a chance to make a second call unless I told them, ‘Wait.’ I’m going to stop this whole thing for a minute. I want to talk to my son. “I don’t care if he’s in prison or where he is, I want to talk to my son.” You don’t think like that. You don’t,” he said.

The senior shared that the whole situation happened so “quickly” that he didn’t have time to wonder if he was being scammed.

“I look like an idiot. I feel like an idiot, but I don’t care,” Anthony said, explaining that he shared his story to help others raise awareness of this issue.

Detective Chelsea Saeger of the Los Angeles Police Department tThe old ABC 7 says that scammers have become “smarter and more sophisticated” in recent years.

“They’re using social media and technology to create these very believable and convincing stories, and people really believe they’re talking to a grandchild or a government official,” Saeger said.

Although phone scams are nothing new, advances in technology – particularly in artificial intelligence and number blockers – have opened up a new playing field for scammers who are begging unsuspecting victims to steal their hard-earned money.

“You call, and when you answer and it’s a scammer, there’s silence,” Saeger explained.

“They want you to say ‘Hello’ or ‘Is anyone there?’ say. All they need is three seconds of your voice to input it into the AI ​​and clone it.”

The detective also said fraudsters would go through “video posts” on social media to capture voices and clone them to use to defraud others.

Saeger told the outlet that the department is investigating what happened to Anthony and is investigating the drivers who picked up the money.

However, she revealed that Uber or Lyft drivers are usually not involved in the scam and are just hired to complete the task – completely unaware that they are even part of the scam.

Saeger said you should never send money to someone you don’t know.

If they claim to be a government agency or financial institution, these entities will never call and ask you to send money immediately.

She also shared that scammers may ask their victims to “deposit money into crypto ATMs or transfer money to crypto accounts,” which is a big red flag.