Mumbai: Quick thinking woman thwarts AI scam attempt

Police impersonation has been increasing with voice cloning being just one type of AI cyber fraud

Following this paper's exposure of scammers using AI tools and voice conversion apps to impersonate police officers and prey on parents, a woman from Mumbai reached out to the mid-day. She recounted an incident where she received a similar call but remained cautious, recognising the potential scam. One major warning sign for her was that law enforcement authorities typically do not communicate via WhatsApp. The woman identified as Neha Boradia, informed mid-day about the concerning trend of scammers exploiting AI and voice conversion technology to deceive parents with fabricated allegations of their children's involvement in rape cases, subsequently demanding payment for settlements.

"I received a similar call from an unknown number with a Pakistani code. The caller contacted me via WhatsApp, displaying a police officer's profile picture. The first red flag was the WhatsApp call, as genuine officers wouldn't use it for such notifications. The caller then mentioned my son's name, asking about our relationship. I remained calm, refusing to disclose any information, and questioned the caller's identity and purpose. Claiming to be a CBI officer, he insisted on a settlement for my son's alleged crime."

She continued, "I informed him that the name you mentioned belongs to my niece, not my son. Keep him in your custody and offer him sandwiches, burgers, and other foods he likes." She emphasised the importance of parents trusting their children and not succumbing to the scammers' tactics. "I stayed calm and responded accordingly. I didn't pay a single amount," she said. "The caller was shocked and disconnected the call. I even managed to capture some pictures of his WhatsApp profile, and the number he called from was traced back to Pakistan."

"I want to emphasise that parents should trust their children and not succumb to panic, avoiding paying these scammers large sums of hard-earned money," Boradia said. "I will report this crime, but my initial action was to share this story and screen grabs with around a hundred people on my WhatsApp, making them aware of this scam," she added.