Man Receives Panicked Call From Mom. Scammers Used AI

A man received a panicked phone call from his “mom,” that turned out to be a scammer recreating her voice using AI, he claims.

Trevor (@itstrevorabney) posted a storytime video about this on TikTok two days ago. He has reached over 2.7 million views and 345,000 likes on his video by Friday afternoon. Trevor says internet scammers are going to keep evolving. 

Trevor starts his video by telling the audience to be careful because “internet scammers are evolving to a God-like level.”

Next he begins his story saying while on the way to the gym he received a call from a random number. “The caller ID said ‘scam likely,’ but they’re not always scam so I picked it up anyway,” he says. 

“And I sh*t you not, on the other end of the line was my mom,” he adds. Trevor explains how who he thought was his mom sounded distraught, was breathing heavily and was saying that someone had taken her and would not let her go. 

He says he asked his mom to tell him where she was, or where she thought she was. “I have no idea but they’re requesting $5,000 in BitCoin and they’ll let me go,” he says his mom told him.

Next Trevor explains how he was surprised he stayed so calm during this situation, but that it allowed him to analyze what was going on and “not fall for it.” 

“I asked my mom what her maiden name is,” he adds. 

@itstrevorabney ♬ original sound – Trevor Abney

He says his mom stated she didn’t have time for that, and would just text him the BitCoin address.

“Yeah that’s a little weird so I hung up and called my actual mom on her number, and sure enough she answered and everything was fine,” he says. 

Trevor says that not only did the scammers get his number and his mom’s name, but that they somehow recreated her voice using AI. 

“In the age of AI these scammers are gonna keep getting better and better, so watch out,” he adds, ending the video. 

A viewer says in the comment section, “Don’t answer your phone unless it’s on your contacts, this was a tip since 2004.” 

“Jokes on them I don’t answer anybody’s calls,” another says. 

So where are these scams coming from? As Fox Business reported this summer:

Fraudsters carrying out AI voice scams are also using AI programs to search the internet for information about individuals and businesses, including audio or video posts on social media or elsewhere, for details that can be used to make more compelling calls to unwitting victims, Scheumack noted.

“The scary thing is, is that this is not your next-door neighbor doing this… This is a sophisticated organization, it’s not one person doing it. You have people that are researching on social media and gathering data about people. Those are not the same people that are going to plug in your voice. You have somebody else that’s going to clone the voice. You have somebody else that’s going to actually commit the act of calling. And you have somebody come to the victim’s house and pick up money if the scam is working.”

The Daily Dot reached out to Trevor via TikTok direct message.