Briana DeStefano, a 15-year-old from Arizona (USA), was on winter break. An oblivious teenager was skiing down the ski slopes, having no idea that her voice had just been used by scammers.
Jennifer DeStefano, after answering the phone, heard that the kidnappers demand a million dollars in ransom for the release of her daughter. She described her story in conversation with Good Morning America People magazine reports. As she emphasized, the only reason she answered the phone was the sudden thought that something bad might have happened to her child.
The terrified mother answered the phone. “I just started shaking”
She said that on the other end of the phone she heard her daughter’s “sobbing” and terrified voice saying: “Mom, mom…”. – What happened? asked Jennifer. – Mom, these bad people have me. Help me, help me! she heard in response.
A moment later, she was also to hear the voice of an unknown man who was to address her daughter with the words: “Tilt your head back, lie down”, which scared the American to the limit.
This man calls on the phone and says, “Listen, I have your daughter. Here’s how it ends. Call the police, call anyone and I’ll drug her. I’ll handle her and drop her off in Mexico
the woman reported.
At that point, I just started shaking. In the background she was saying, ‘Help me, mom. Please help me. Help me’. And she screamed
– told NBC 15. The conversation with the mysterious kidnapper lasted several minutes. Initially, he demanded a million dollars ransom. A moment later – when the American announced that she did not have such a sum of money – he began to lower it.
DeStefano was at the dance studio with her second daughter. While Jennifer was on the line with the scammer, another mom in the studio called the police and another contacted the woman’s husband. In just five minutes, it was verified that 15-year-old Briana was completely safe.
When she realized what had happened, she couldn’t believe it. “She was upstairs in her room and she was like, ‘What? What’s going on?’ her mother reported.
“I never doubted for a moment that it was her”
As Jennifer admitted, one of the most terrifying moments of this situation was the fact that she did not doubt for a moment that she heard her daughter’s voice in the receiver.
It was completely her voice (…) This is the way she would cry. I never doubted for a moment that it was her
said Jennifer DeStefano.
They “cloned” the voice of a 15-year-old girl using artificial intelligence
Briana told Good Morning America, “I started to wonder, for example, if these people were asking to track down my mom and pick her up, they could have obviously gathered some information to try to track me down or some of my siblings to actually make it a reality. So it definitely scared me.”
What the DeStefano family encountered turned out to be a new kind scam – an online form of fraud, which usually consists of phishing all kinds of data. This time, not only the voice of the teenager was stolen, but also a huge sum of money was demanded. Unfortunately, this method has recently gained popularity. The scammers recreated the voice of a 15-year-old girl using an artificial intelligence (AI) program.
As she said in an interview with GMA internet technology expert Sinéad Bovell, getting someone’s vote is “easier than you might think.”
Experts warn!
– Most people these days have some form of online identity. And she probably talked in a certain way (…), which was recorded – the specialist said, meaning, among others, sending each other voice messages, the so-called votes.
Experts advise all social media users to place great emphasis on securing their social media accounts. They recommend closing profiles from strangers by setting their availability status to private. This is to prevent scammers from stealing sensitive information. They also advise you to avoid answering these types of calls, but if you do, it’s worth asking additional questions. For example, ask for details, for information that is not publicly available, which a given criminal will probably not be able to provide. “You will find out very quickly that this is a scammer,” we read.
Sources: people.com/abcnews.go.com/Good Morning America/nbc15.com
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
