Fla. pol targeted in elaborate AI car crash scam which almost fooled his dad into forking over $35K

An attorney has issued a warning over an elaborate AI voice-cloning scam which fooled his own dad into nearly handing over $35,000.Scammers impersonated Jay Shooster, 34, and called his dad Frank, 70, convincing him his son had been in a serious car accident, was arrested and needed bail money.Terrified Frank, a retired attorney, said he was convinced it was his “hysterical” son and has been deeply traumatized by the scam.Jay is running for Florida’s 91st District in the House of Representatives, and think scammers managed to create a fake voice from his 15-second TV campaign ad.Frank, also from Boca Raton, Florida, who was visiting his daughter in New York at the time, said: “Just as the Uber car arrived to take me into New York City, I got a phone call.“It was my son, Jay.He was hysterical, but I knew his voice immediately.“He said he had been in an accident, broke his nose, had 16 stitches, and was in police custody because he tested positive for alcohol after a breathalyzer.“He blamed it on the cough syrup he had taken earlier.”The impersonator, posing as Jay, pleaded with Frank not to tell anyone about the situation, on September 28.Moments later, a man identifying himself as ‘Mike Rivers’, a supposed attorney, called and said Jay needed a $35,000 cash bond to avoid being held in jail for several days.The scam escalated when ‘Rivers’ instructed Frank to pay the bond via a cryptocurrency machine — an unconventional request that heightened Frank’s suspicions.“I became suspicious when he told me to go to a Coinbase machine at Winn-Dixie,” Frank says.

“I didn’t understand how that was part of the legal process.”Frank eventually realized something was wrong after his daughter, Jay’s twin sister, Lauren, and her friend discovered AI voice-cloning scams were on the rise.He ultimately hung up the phone.“It’s devastating to get that kind of call,” said Frank.“My son has worked so hard, and I was beside myself, thinking hi...