How to Defend Yourself Against AI Voice Cloning Scams

With AI changing the world for good, scammers have found a way to use AI voice cloning to scam the public.

CBS News shared some shocking facts- America alone lost about $9 billion owing to voice cloning scams in the year 2022. With these sophisticated crimes on the rise, AI voice cloning scams have become a global issue.

According to security software company McAfee – voice cloning technology can recreate any voice using a sample of as few as 3 seconds. The scary part is it can achieve up to 85% match. But you don’t have to worry, in this article, we will provide you with everything you need to know about AI voice cloning and avoid getting scammed.

Let’s start with understanding what exactly is AI Voice cloning –

What does AI Voice Cloning mean?

Initially, voice cloning was used to create natural-sounding computer responses and in the cinema latitude. It was done by using a process to replicate a person’s voice in digital form by training neural networks on an audio sample. The cloned voice can later to used to voice over videos and audio content.

In short, one can use a voice sample of a person and mimic his voice using AI tools Voice cloning. It is a variant of deepfake AI. In this, a person uses artificial intelligence tools to process a sample voice and create a voice template. Once this voice template is ready, the person can use it and mimic the voice of their target.

How do AI Voice Cloning Scams work?

It all starts with the voice of a dear one sounding distressed or in urgent need of some money. All they need is a sample audio of the target. The AI voice cloning software analyses the sample and every element starting from pitch, tone, and every other minute detail and merges it using advanced algorithms to create a voice template. Using this template, one can sound exactly like the target person irrespective of their gender, tone, pitch, or age.

You read that right, it can even mimic the voice regardless of age. A similar horrifying experience of a mother, Jennifer DeStefano, who uncovered this fact in a recent US Senate meeting.

But is there a way to identify these scams? Of course, there is, let’s understand how –

How to Identity AI Voice Scams?

AI voice Scams at first might seem difficult to identify but if you are vigilant then it’s easy to notice some common elements. Upon identifying these elements one can easily defend from AI voice cloning.

Let’s look at each of these elements and learn about them in detail:

1. Unexpected Calls

You should be always on alert and extra cautious while taking any unexpected calls. Scammers have a tendency to use odd hours and catch you off guard. By being cautious, instead of falling for the trap, you will use logical thinking and easily be able to identify a scammer.

Moreover, you should also pay attention to the number you get a call from because, in the sway of emotions, we don’t realize that the call is from an unknown number.

2.Urgent Requests

Another psychological trick used by scammers is to create a sense of urgent requirement for our dear ones. You might get a call from someone sounding like a loved one stating that they are in dire need of urgent finances. We being emotional creatures fall prey to this. This sense of urgency creates pressure on you, forcing you to make a decision in desperation.

3. Dialects

The most common element in all AI Voice cloning scams is creating a sense of urgency. While it might not be easy to identify differences in the voice, you can always identify the unnatural speech patterns.

AI can mimic the tone and pitch of someone’s voice but will still lack in mimicking the dialects. Every person has a unique way of talking and only the people who personally know you can know about these dialects.

4. Requesting sensitive info over the phone

With the rise of scams, governments, and banks have been educating the public about not sharing sensitive information over phone calls. A legitimate known person will never ask for personal and financial information over a call.

You should always refrain from sharing such crucial information over phone calls, even to a known voice.

Always be aware and attentive and look for these elements as these may indicate suspicion of a scam and you may be able to defend from AI voice scam. Now that you have understood how to identify an AI Voice cloning scam, let’s talk about how you can defend yourself from such kinds of scams.

How to Defend Yourself from AI Voice Scams?

You learned since childhood that “prevention is better than cure” so let us talk about how to prevent and defend from AI voice Cloning-

1. Avoid Unknown Numbers

A scam will always be initiated from a temporary unknown number. So before a scammer can use emotions to your weakness you can easily prevent such scams by avoiding unknown numbers.

2. Never sharing audio clips on social media

This is a common threat to all of us. We use social media and share things without even realizing how these things can be used against us. Always avoid sharing audio clips on social media, as these can be used as samples to create a voice template and scam your dear ones.

3. Use Caller ID apps

It is not possible to avoid unknown calls for the people operating a business or working in a corporation. So they can use a Caller ID app to identify the person before they answer the call. These apps are integrated with some advanced features where users can flag a number as spam and any user receiving a call from that number will be notified about the spam reports by other users before they even answer the call.

4. Cease immediate Decision making

The scammers have realized the fact that creating a sense of urgency is the best way to avoid getting noticed and scamming the target person. So you should always think mindfully and avoid immediate decision-making.

For anyone who has been scammed, now that you look back, it feels so silly that a little caution and logical thinking would have easily saved you from the scam.

Conclusion

The rise of AI voice cloning scams has reinstated the importance of being informed and vigilant with innovative tech advancements around us. Anything with a positive impact can be used against us, so by being proactive we can build a protective ecosystem and that is where this article helps us.

In this article, we learned about various elements of an AI Voice cloning scam and ways to identify such scams. The added segment about defending from AI voice cloning gave a few tips on how to prevent such scams and significantly reduce the risk of falling victim to this unsettling trend.

FAQs on How to Defend Yourself from AI Voice Cloning Scams

1. Can anyone clone my voice?

Anybody’s voice can be cloned. All scammers need is a sample of the target person’s audio.

2. What is an example of an AI voice scam?

The most common example is mimicking the voice of a family member to ask for money by creating a sense of immediate need.

3. What can a scammer do with your voice?

A scammer can use your sample voice to generate a template and use it to personate you and scam your dear ones.

4. How do i know if the voice is AI or real?

You have to be very vigilant as it is difficult to differentiate a real voice from AI. You can use codewords or pay closer attention to a persons dialects.