It’s no surprise that Artificial Intelligence has revolutionized the world, and that cybercriminals have taken advantage of all this potential to create highly realistic and sophisticated targeted social engineering attacks. Techniques involving voice cloning to impersonate family members, friends, or acquaintances are on the rise, with the aim of obtaining private information or even money from their victims. ESET, a leading company in proactive threat detection, analyzes the methodology used by attackers in these types of scams, how they can affect people, and how we should avoid becoming victims.
Cybercriminals take small fragments of a real recording and, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and voice patterns, create conversations and phrases to carry out their deceptions, with consequences that are as serious as they are costly. These samples are obtained from voice recordings or videos posted on social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
To measure the impact, the United States Federal Trade Commission reported that in 2023, the United States lost $2.7 billion due to scams alone. Along these lines, Starling Bank (a British online bank) warned about the prevalence of these types of scams in the United Kingdom. The survey of more than 3,000 people revealed that more than a quarter of adults say they have been the victim of an AI voice cloning scam at least once a year. Furthermore, 46 % of respondents stated they were unaware such scams existed.
The growing number of scams involving Artificial Intelligence led the FBI to issue a statement warning people: “Attackers are leveraging AI to create highly convincing voice or video messages and emails to enable fraud schemes against individuals and businesses alike. These sophisticated tactics can result in devastating financial losses, reputational damage, and the compromise of sensitive data,” the US investigative agency noted.
ESET recommendations
ESET warns that when faced with these types of scams involving social engineering, the first advice is to remain highly alert. This means paying special attention to unexpected messages that urgently request money or account credentials. Similarly, call back a family member or friend using a known phone number.
Another measure suggested by the ESET research team is to have a “safe phrase,” agreed upon in advance by family and friends, to verify whether the person on the other end of the line is who they claim to be.
It’s also very important to implement multifactor authentication whenever possible. It’s about adding an extra layer of security to prevent cybercriminals from accessing our accounts and systems.
“For companies, beyond combining solutions to reduce the number of phishing emails, calls, and messages that reach their employees, it’s essential to educate and raise awareness among their teams so they can detect scams and avoid falling into the trap,” commented Camilo Gutiérrez Amaya, Head of the ESET Latin America Research Lab.
Contact information for ESET, a digital and IT security specialist and source of this information and recommendations: https://www.eset.com/ve/.
Also available on social media: Instagram (@esetla) and Facebook: (ESET).
With information and reference images provided by ESET and Comstat Rowland
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