Becca Monaghan
Apr 22, 2023
content.jwplatform.com
An "evil" AI phone scam is becoming more widespread, prompting families to invent codewords to prevent falling for it.
TikToker Brooke (@babybushwhacked) experienced it firsthand and shared the scary ordeal with her half a million followers. She explained how her grandfather received a call from someone using artificial intelligence to mimic her brother's voice.
"I've been crying for the past two hours because I thought my little brother was dead," Brooke said. "Somebody out there used an AI machine to trick my grandpa into thinking my little brother got in a wreck and died."
She said the AI-generated voice told her grandfather 'her brother' was about to get in a "wreck" before the line went dead.
When she received the call from her grandfather, Brooke immediately tried to contact her brother and track his location. She soon found out it was a scammer trying to get money.
"If you guys ever get called, and someone asks for money that you know, they're using a friggin AI machine to reenact their voice," she warned.
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@babybushwhacked Sharing so this doesn’t happen to anyone else
The viral clip has racked up almost two million views and was soon inundated with hundreds of fellow TikTokers highlighting how common the scam is becoming.
"This has been happening to A LOT of people," one person said, while another added: "This is why i won’t answer unknown numbers."
A third added: "AI is going waaaaay too far we should slow down."
"My family and I have created a code word in case of situations like this," one comment read. "If they get a call and that word isn’t said then they’ll know it’s not real."
"That’s insane, I’m so sorry you had to go through that," one TikToker added. "AIvoice filters are seriously getting out of hand."
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