'Definitely my son's voice': Manitoba woman targeted by AI phone scam

A Manitoba woman is speaking up after receiving a phone call she said was an AI scam that used a loved one's voice.

Leann Friesen, a mother of three from the small southern Manitoba community of Miami, got a phone call a couple of weeks ago from a private number. Although the person on the other end of the call sounded like her son, the conversation was odd, she said.

"He said, 'Hi mom,' and I said hi. He said, 'Mom, can I tell you anything?' and I said yes. He said, 'Without judgment?'" said Friesen.

"I'm getting a little bit confused at that point — like, why are you asking me this?"

Friesen said the call was giving her an uneasy feeling, so she told the caller she'd call him back on his cellphone and hung up.

"I immediately called my son, and I woke him out of his sleep, because he works shift work. He said, 'Mom, I didn't call you.' But it was definitely my son's voice that was on the other end of the line."

Using artificial intelligence to scam someone over the phone is a new approach by fraudsters, with criminals using AI software to make themselves sound like their victims' loved ones. The scammers can use short clips of a person's voice found online to re-create a person's voice in a scam call, according to police.

Friesen isn't the only person being targeted. The member of the legislative assembly for Burrows, Diljeet Brar, said his voice was used recently in an attempt to scam one of his constituents.

"[The constituent] said, 'It was your voice.' He has talked to me many times. In the community I meet those seniors often, and he said [it was] the exact same voice."

Brar said the caller asked the constituent for $5,000, but the person targeted caught on before transferring any money. 

The MLA said he is speaking up so people are more aware of AI scams.

"I was concerned about the seniors who don't know much about the latest technology.  They don't use technology, they don't know how AI works. And I thought about how vulnerable they are," he said.

"It was shocking."

Targeted 'spear phishing': investigator

Keith Elliott is a certified fraud examiner, and the CEO of Reed Research Investigations, a professional investigation firm based in Toronto. He said this type of scam is a spin on a common one known as the "grandparent scam," which typically involves someone calling the victim and posing as a grandchild in legal trouble, saying they need cash in order to be released from police custody. 

"The current trend right now is leveraging AI to facilitate different levels of that scam to use voices that are familiar to the parties," said Elliott, describing it as a type of "phishing" scam.

"It's a little more elaborate — it's what we would refer to as 'spear phishing,' because it's very targeted at a specific person."

Elliott said he teaches techniques to verify whether a caller on the phone is who they claim to be.

He suggests calling the person back on a number you trust, or baiting them with false information.

"Say, 'Oh, have you talked to your sister lately?' And the individual will be, like, 'No, I haven't had a chance to talk to her.' I don't even have a sister, so you know it's a fraud," said Elliott.

"That person's going to feed you the answer, so you have to feed them a lie that you know is going to bait them the opposite way."

Elliott also said if something seems off, trust your instincts. 

AI fraud attempts and cyber crimes can be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Data from the government agency indicates Canadians lost $638 million to fraud last year, but it estimates only five to 10 per cent of fraud is actually reported.