Faridabad: Cyber thugs duped a man from Haryana's Faridabad of Rs 30,000 by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) voice cloning tools. Police have filed a case and investigations are on.
NIT Cyber police station in-charge Naveen said that Karan, a resident of Panchsheel Colony, has lodged an FIR of being cheated by cybercriminals. In his complaint, Karan said that he got a call from an unknown number.
The caller was a cyber thug who talked to Karan in his friend's voice and asked for Rs 30,000 for his treatment. He said that he has met with an accident when he had gone out for a walk. He said that he is currently hospitalised and his phone has also been damaged in the accident due to which, he is using someone else's phone.
Hearing his friend's problem, Karan transferred Rs 30,000 to the number that was given to him by his friend. Later, when Karan called his friend's number to inquire about his health condition, his friend informed him that he is safe and didn't have any accident. After which, Karan realised that he has been duped and lodged a complaint at the cyber police station.
Cyber expert and in-charge of Central Cyber Station Surendra Singh said that nowadays cyber thugs are using AI voice cloning tools wherein they are duping people by cloning the voices of their near ones. In order to clone the voice, cybercriminals first collect information of the target through social media or any other means. They then decide as to whose voice they want to clone. After which, the criminals collect the name and phone number of that person. They then call him/her posing as a customer care personnel or some other service provider. During the conversion, the criminals record their voice.
Also, cyber thugs record voices from the videos uploaded on social sites. After which, they use AI tools for cloning these audio clips. Now, when the target is called through this tool, he/she hears the voice of his/her near ones. If the caller says that he/she is in trouble then automatically the person offers help. It is only later that one realises that he/she has been cheated, cyber experts said.
Also Read: How to avoid fraud-prone digital payments?
According to cyber experts, the only way to avoid such incidents is not to panic and rush in if one's friends or relatives ask for money saying they are in trouble. One should verify it from another family member or friend. Only after proper verification should one transfer money, cyber experts said.
