Bay Area mom out thousands after scammers use AI to mimic daughter's voice in fake kidnapping

A Bay Area woman lost thousands of dollars after scammers used artificial intelligence to mimic her daughter’s voice. The fraud began with an unknown phone call in May. The caller claimed the daughter had been kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel and provided audio that sounded like the daughter in distress. The victim followed urgent instructions for hours, including being told not to speak and to get dressed and leave immediately. She wired $5,400 from multiple locations to Mexico and was told the daughter would be released at a grocery store. When she arrived and could not find her, she called her daughter directly, who said she was at work, revealing the scam. Authorities said AI voice cloning is an increasing method of fraud.

"The incident began with a phone call from an unknown number one morning in May. "This male voice said, 'Who is this?' and I said, 'Well, who is this?' And he said 'someone you need to talk to'," Del Mastro said. The caller then claimed her 37-year-old daughter, Sarah, had been kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel after seeing something she wasn't supposed to."

""It was my daughter's voice having an absolute panic attack, scared, telling me 'I love you, mom, I'm so sorry, I'm so scared' and then they just cut it off," she said. Fearing for her daughter's life, Del Mastro followed the caller's instructions for five hours, as the caller issued a series of urgent commands. "The guy is barking orders, 'don't speak,' 'is there someone there with you?' 'Don't speak,' 'go and get dressed and get out' 'do this now, it has to happen now'," she said."

"After wiring $5,400 to Mexico from multiple locations, Del Mastro said she was told her daughter would be released at a grocery store. When she arrived and could not find her, she called her daughter directly, who picked up and said she was at work. Del Mastro soon realized the ordeal had been a scam. "God, I couldn't believe it. I mean, I couldn't believe it. And then I did believe it," Del Mastro said."

"Erin West with Operation Shamrock said scammers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to clone voices, often by pulling audio from social media or phone calls. "What they can do with just a few seconds of your voice," she said."

Read at ABC7 San Francisco