Bank saves local grandmother from scam, which is getting more sophisticated with AI
Scammers nearly tricked a local grandmother out of thousands of dollars with a phony but believable story about how her granddaughter had been arrested and was subject to a gag order, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
The DA’s Office’s consumer protection division is warning area residents — especially seniors — to be wary of these sorts of fear-based phone calls that try to manipulate people out of cash.
They aren’t legitimate, authorities say. But they are becoming more convincing with AI.
According to a news release from the DA, scammers recently contacted the local grandmother by phone and told her that her granddaughter had been in a car crash, was at fault and that a pregnant woman had been hospitalized.
“The senior believed she heard her granddaughter’s voice on the phone and believed it was a legitimate call,” the DA’s Office said. A man who took over the call told the grandmother that her granddaughter had been arrested and that “a judge had imposed a gag order on the case.”
“The scammer told the senior to withdraw $20,000 from the bank to get her granddaughter out of jail” and also ordered her to “tell the bank the money was for home repairs to avoid violating the court order,” the release says.
The con was so believable, the woman went to the bank to withdraw the money.
But a savvy teller who suspected the grandmother had fallen victim to fraud didn’t let the bank withdraw go through.
“After the senior spoke to her family, she realized the granddaughter was not in jail and it was a scam,” the DA’s Office said. The phone number used by the scammers was later traced to an Illinois area code.
Although these so-called grandparent scams aren’t new, they’ve become more sophisticated as perpetrators with access to personal information are now using artificial intelligence — or AI — technology to mimic the voices of victims’ loved ones. According to a Federal Communications Commission post citing a March 2023 Washington Post story about AI scams, “scammers can replicate a voice from just a short audio sample, then use AI tools to hold a conversation in that voice, which ‘speaks’ whatever the imposter types.”
The scammers are using the AI-generated replica voices to impersonate a relative, often a grandchild, in a crisis situation, such as being injured in a traffic crash or needing money for bail after an arrest. They may use caller ID spoofing technology to make it appear their call is coming from a trusted phone number, the FCC says.
“The scammer may ask the grandparent ‘please don’t let mom and dad know,’ and may hand the phone over to someone posing as a lawyer seeking immediate payment,” according to the FCC.
“Grandparents often have a hard time saying no to their grandchildren, which is something scam artists know all too well,” the FCC said.
In the case involving the local grandma, there’s “no guarantee” the scammers used AI to impersonate her granddaughter’s voice, said Jason Roach, chief attorney for the Sedgwick County DA’s consumer protection division. “It could have been the panic which the scammer relies upon to get the victim to believe what she is hearing.”
But the use of AI in scams is a growing concern, authorities say.
Scammers sometimes also try to scare their victims into complying by using legal terms like “gag order” — even though issuing a gag order isn’t something a judge does for an arrest, the Sedgwick County DA’s Office said.
“(They) will try to put pressure on you to make rash decisions based on fear. Remember to resist the pressure to act quickly because once you wire money, it is very difficult to recover.”
In 2022, consumers lost $2.6 billion to imposter scams, with the highest per person reported losses coming from fraudulent phone calls, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The median loss to phone call scams was $1,400, the FTC said.
How to avoid falling victim
The FCC, FBI, DA’s Office and other authorities and government agencies suggest several strategies to avoid falling victim to a grandparent scam. Here’s what to do:
- Contact a trusted relative or friend to talk through calls before acting.
- Never wire money, transfer money into cryptocurrency or through mobile apps, or buy gift cards based solely on a phone call. The government doesn’t accept these types of payments for fines or fees.
- Be suspicious of callers who tell you to keep secrets or lie about what you’re spending money on or why you’re withdrawing cash from the bank.
- Be wary of anyone who tries to bully you into making a quick financial decision over the phone.
- Check with your family members to ensure they aren’t really in trouble.
- File complaints with the FCC about unwanted calls or caller ID spoofing.
- Simply hang up, especially if you’re being pressured.
If you think you’ve fallen victim to a grandparent scam, report it to your local authorities immediately.
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 3:22 PM.
