It looks like people are taking the usage of artificial intelligence to the next level. A mother from Arizona said that scammers utilized artificial intelligence to try and scam her by cloning her daughter’s voice so they could order a $1 million ransom, reports the New York Post. The incident occurred in the midst of the rise of a new scheme called the

“caller-ID spoofing.”

This scheme consists of scammers calling people and claiming to have kidnapped their family members and threatening to hurt them if they aren’t paid a certain amount of money. 

The mother, Jennifer DeStefano, told WKYT,

 “I never doubted for one second it was her… That’s the freaky part that really got me to my core.” 

The mother said she received a call from an unknown number. She said Brie, her 15-year-old daughter, was on a ski trip during the time, which caused her to answer the unknown call. DeStefano revealed,

“I pick up the phone, and I hear my daughter’s voice, and it says, ‘Mom!’ and she’s sobbing….I said, ‘What happened?’ And she said, ‘Mom, I messed up,’ and she’s sobbing and crying.” 

“This man gets on the phone, and he’s like, ‘Listen here. I’ve got your daughter,’ ”

the mother said. She went on to say that the unidentified man explained how things will

“go down.” 

The scammer told the terrified mother,

“You call the police, you call anybody, I’m going to pop her so full of drugs… I’m going to have my way with her, and I’m going to drop her off in Mexico.” 

She added that she heard Brie crying in the background, saying,

“‘Help me, Mom. Please help me. Help me,’ and bawling.” 

The scammer then demanded a ransom. He originally requested $1 million, and then he asked for $50,000 after the mother pleaded that she doesn’t have the funds. Luckily, things took a turn after a fellow mother helped her and DeStefano’s husband confirmed that Brie was safe on her ski trip. It was later revealed the voice was created by an AI stimulation. 

#Clique, what are your thoughts?