CITIZENS NEWS

Deepfake voice scams are now targeting your bank balance. Scammers have started to use artificial intelligence (AI) to generate voices in real time. Clive Kabatznik, a Florida-based investor, recounted how he found himself at the center of a high-tech fraud attempt last spring. Kabatznik called twice on his local Bank of America representative. On his first call, he discussed his plan to transfer a large sum of money, then he called again to transfer the money elsewhere. Except that the second caller wasn't him. According to the banker, the second caller attempted to persuade her to transfer funds to a different account. However, the voice on the other end was repeating itself, kept on interrupting her, and using incomprehensible phrases. The banker ended the call and promptly reported the issue to their security team. The banker then declined all calls and emails, authentic or not, coming from Kabatznik to ensure the safety of the account. It took approximately 10 days for them to reestablish contact and arrange a meeting at the office of the Bank of America.

Pindrop, a company that reviews automatic voice-verification systems for eight of the largest U.S. lenders, reported a surge in deepfake voice scams when fake voices created by AI programs started making an appearance in 2022. Nuance, another voice authentication vendor, also noted the first successful deepfake attack on a financial services client late last year. In an article published by Gadget, a personal technology magazine, deep fake technology is supposed to be harmless, unless it lands in the wrong hands. As technology advances, scamming techniques also evolve. Now, criminals can quickly turn their voice into the voice of their targets with the help of generative AI systems like Microsoft's VALL-E. In some instances, these attacks can be executed with just a few seconds of sampled audio.