They’re in trouble, and they need money.

The number checks out.

It’s their voice.

Someone staring at their smartphone with a surprised look on their face while holding a coffee mug.

Westend61 / Getty Images

But it’s not them.

It’s an AI impersonator scamming you.

According toa report from McAfee, these AI voice scams are on the rise thanks to AI impersonators.

Someone recording another person on a smartphone.

Josh Rose / Unsplash.

Caller ID spoofing combined with AI voice cloning would probably convince most people.

So how does it work?

And how can you protect yourself?

So, how does it work?

To clone a voice, you need a recording of the original voice.

Thanks to TikTok and Instagram videos, plenty of training data is out there.

Right now, the level of effort is still high.

But if we know anything, it’s that scammers are likely to become ever more sophisticated.

And a scam doesn’t have to be a fake kidnapping attempt.

It could equally be an AI chatbot phoning you up and pretending to be from your bank.

“The biggest danger is just how easy and cheap it is to commit this pop in of scam.

Can You Protect Against AI Voice Cloning Scams?

First, you should not trust caller ID.

The problem there is the social engineering element.

Right now, the models are good, but not that good.