Scammers swindle elderly California man out of $25K by using AI voice technology to claim his son was in horrible accident, needed money for bail: Absolutely his voice

A California senior citizen was swindled out of $25,000 by scammers using an AI voice mimicking his son to make him believe his loved one was involved in a “horrible accident” and needed money to be bailed out of jail.The man, identified only as Anthony, said he received a call from who he believed to be his son, saying he had struck a pregnant woman while driving, and she was “rushed to the ICU,” according to ABC 7.“It was his voice.It was absolutely his voice,” he told the outlet.

“There was no doubt about it.”Anthony said that after a short conversation, the scammer — using his son’s AI-generated voice — hung up, but he received a second phone call minutes later from a man claiming to be his son’s lawyer, Michael Roberts.“He said, ‘You need to get $9,200 as fast as you can if you want your son out of jail.Otherwise, he’s in for 45 days,’” Anthony recounted.Suspicious about the lawyer’s call, Anthony said he tried calling his son to verify that he needed the bail money, but his call was sent to voicemail.The worried father then went to his bank and told the teller he needed a large sum of money for solar panel installation — so as not to raise any unwanted questions about the situation.After returning home, Anthony had his daughter call the lawyer again, who told them an Uber would be by shortly to pick up the bail money.Surveillance cameras outside his home show his daughter verifying the Uber license plate number and handing the money to the driver.However, the scammers weren’t finished.Moments after the driver left, Anthony received another phone call, this time from a man named Mark Cohen, who identified himself as another lawyer on his son’s case and told him the pregnant woman had died and his son’s bail had been raised.“The bail has been raised.

Mark Cohen says another $15,800 to $25,000,” Anthony recounted.Fearing his son desperately needs the money to be bailed out of jail, the concerned father returns to ...