An Arizona mother is sounding the alarm after falling victim to a hoax — and being led to believe through the power of artificial intelligence that her teenage daughter had been kidnapped.
Jennifer DeStefano of Scottsdale told Good Morning America that her 15-year-old daughter, Briana, was away on a skiing trip when she got a phone call from an unknown number.
When Jennifer picked up the phone, she heard what sounded like her daughter's voice pleading for help — claiming she had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom.
"At that moment, I just started shaking," DeStefano told CBS 5. "In the background, she’s going, ‘Help me, Mom. Please help me. Help me,’ and bawling."
A man on the other end claimed to be holding Briana captive and demanded ransom money in exchange — but he wanted to pick up the money in person.
As it turns out, the voice on the other end wasn't Briana at all. It was a voice generated by artificial intelligence. But it was convincing enough for Jennifer to contact authorities, who confirmed Briana was safe.
“In the beginning, it would require a larger amount of samples," Subbarao Kambhampati, a computer science professor at Arizona State University, told CBS 5 of the A.I. used in such scams. "Now there are ways in which you can do this with just three seconds of your voice. Three seconds. And with the three seconds, it can come close to how exactly you sound."
AARP has some tips for avoiding common phone scams, including ones like Jennifer experienced.
- Put your phone number on the FTC's Do Not Call Registry. It may not stop all spam calls, but makes them less frequent.
- Consider using a call-blocking app to weed out potential scams. Some phone providers also provide blocking tools to their users.
- Hang up on illegal robocalls or anything that sounds suspicious.
- Don't answer calls from unknown numbers.
- Don't follow instructions on a pre-recorded message. For example, if you answer a call that prompts you to "press 1" to speak with a live operator, it could be leading you to a phishing scam.
- Don't give away personal or financial data over the phone to callers you don't know.
——-
Emma Miller is a producer for KGUN 9. Originally from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, Emma graduated from Fordham University in 2021 where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism with a minor in Mandarin Chinese. In April 2021, Emma became the first woman researcher in MLB and NHL Network history. She joined the KGUN 9 family in August 2022 after falling in love with Tucson.
