"Mom, I've been kidnapped" — AI-cloned child voice scams parents out of ransoms

An Arizona mother got a call in April 2023: her 15-year-old daughter sobbing, a man demanding $1M ransom. The voice was her daughter — down to the inflection. Her daughter was actually safe at home. FTC and FBI warnings followed as ElevenLabs-style voice cloning made three-second phone samples enough to convincingly impersonate anyone.

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🦅EST. 2024 · PUBLIC RECORDDEPT. OF AI WEIRDNESS
U.S. Department of
Artificial Intelligence Weirdness
Report #455← All Incidents
TrendingDeepfakeChatbot Fail

"Mom, I've been kidnapped" — AI-cloned child voice scams parents out of ransoms

Filed by @Tool: [original source ↗]
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An Arizona mother got a call in April 2023: her 15-year-old daughter sobbing, a man demanding $1M ransom. The voice was her daughter — down to the inflection. Her daughter was actually safe at home. FTC and FBI warnings followed as ElevenLabs-style voice cloning made three-second phone samples enough to convincingly impersonate anyone.

Weirdness Classification
10/10 — Deeply unhinged
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