DIARY OF A FRAUDSTER: Reformed scammer lifts lid on new con which uses AI to spoof a child’s VOICE and trick parents into paying a ransom
Scams are affecting more people than ever before.
With this in mind, retired Metropolitan police detective Peter Barron and former head of Action Fraud Steve Profitt – who now work for online security firm Transaction 360° – have teamed up with an anonymous former fraudster to write a blog called Fraudster’s Diary.
Their aim is to try and lift the lid on the murky world of financial fraud.
They want to use their experience of catching criminals, as well as the anonymous fraudster’s inside intelligence, to educate the public about how scammers really operate – and help them avoid falling victim.
Here, the reformed scammer writes for This is Money about a worrying new scam which sees criminals use the latest artificial intelligence technology to spoof someone’s voice, and trick parents into believing their child is in trouble…
Exposing criminal’s tactics: A police officer, former head of Action Fraud and a reformed scammer have teamed up to lift the lid on the latest tricks used by fraudsters
As my retired police officer blogging buddy was also a hostage negotiator, I knew that as soon as I heard about this particular scam, I needed to speak to him as a matter of urgency.
It tricks parents into thinking that their child has been kidnapped – and it does so with the help of the latest technology.
Fraudsters are nimble criminals who identify emerging opportunities as fast as the sharpest of entrepreneurs.
However, unlike entrepreneurs, they are not constrained by legislation, government guidance, industry regulation, or even budgets.
Whilst technical experts will refine their product for months or even years before bringing it to market, fraudsters get it out there within days. No wonder they remain at least two steps ahead of law enforcement.
I’m sure that most people reading this will at least have heard of artificial intelligence. In a nutshell, this is where computers complete tasks previously undertaken by human beings.
As the technology improves, so does the scope and quality of the work that the computers can complete.
Some of the first criminal use of AI was to photoshop the heads of celebrities onto the bodies of adult film stars in existing videos.
These were largely used for ‘entertainment’ and embarrassment, however, the opportunities for extortion are obvious.
The latest variation of using AI for nefarious purposes works something like this.
The fraudster searches social media sites for a potential victim. Let’s face it, there is no shortage of well-off teenagers on social media, flaunting their parents’ wealth by being pictured next to their new car, displaying their new diamond ring or standing with outstretched arms draped in designer handbags.
These people are also keen on posting short videos. Ideally, they are jetting off to some exotic location – or at least going somewhere other than home.
The fraudster records the voice from these videos and uses AI to convert it into a recorded message of their choice.
Who is lurking on your social media? Scammers are on the lookout for teenagers flaunting their lavish holidays and lifestyles, which could enable them to target their parents for money
It sounds a bit far-fetched, but I’ve had it demonstrated to me using my own voice. The recording created in less than an hour consisted of me admitting to the world that I was actually Lord Lucan and had a stash of unrecovered Brink’s-Mat gold buried in my back garden.
The fake message was created from an old video of me giving a short speech at a friend’s birthday party.
Upon hearing the me make these admissions I was genuinely shocked; We all know our own voices, including our rhythm, cadence and the way in which we pronounce certain words. I had no doubt whatsoever, that I was listening to myself.
‘Mum, Dad… I’ve been snatched by someone’
In the case of the kidnapping scam, the fraudster might use the voice from a daughter’s social media video to create a message such as this: ‘Mum, dad, please help! I’ve been snatched by someone and they are going to kill me.
‘They want £10,000 to let me go. whatever you do, don’t go to the police. They know everything about us all. This is not a joke. If you transfer the money now, they will set me free straight away and it will all be over,’
This is followed by sobbing and perhaps a scream. I’m advised by my police officer blogging buddy that this is referred to as a ‘proof of life’ call.
It is clearly intended to ensure that the victim’s family believes the threats and demands the kidnapper is making.
The fraudster calls one of the parents, spoofs the number of the daughter’s mobile phone and plays the fake message.
‘Spoofing’ is where the fraudster uses software that enables any number they choose to be displayed on the recipient’s phone. The same software is used to make victims believe their bank is ringing them in other scams.
Upon hearing the message, the mother or father panics immediately. The fraudster instructs them to write down an account number and sort code.
He informs them that unless £10,000 is paid into this account by the close of business today, their daughter will never see them again.
Spoofed: Fraudsters can send parents into a panic by making a call which appears to be from their child’s number – and then imitating their voice to spin a false story about a kidnap abroad
They may also add that they have been targeted due to something their husband or wife has done to them, and this is their way of getting both revenge and compensation.
This is of course completely fictitious, but adds further credence to the demands. They end the call by warning them not to call back until four hours after the money has been transferred.
The alleged wrongdoing by their partner also presents the recipient of the call with someone to blame, rather than the fraudster. Don’t forget, this is all about mind games.
More often than not, the parent transfers the money within minutes and without reference to anyone else at all – including their partner. As soon as the money arrives in the fraudsters account it is bounced around other accounts until it is impossible to trace back to them.
Once the money has been transferred, the parent calls their partner and tells them what has happened. While £10,000 is a great deal of money, it is nowhere near enough to risk the life of their precious daughter.
In the four hours until they can call back, the recriminations and allegations begin, with one blaming the other for being the cause of all of this.
After four hours, they ring their daughter’s mobile; she is completely oblivious to what has gone on back at home. She has been dune buggy racing or white water rafting and is perfectly safe.
As long as people use social media to boast of their wealth, possessions and lifestyles, they will be targeted by criminals.
Numbers game: Criminals may run more than one kidnapping scam at a time, knowing that not all of them will be successful
Technology is now readily available to do all of the above for very little outlay at all – a couple of hundred pounds will allow you to purchase the software needed.
In reality, the fraudster has probably never left his living room. Nobody has been physically harmed, although the trauma suffered by the parent receiving the kidnap demand can be very serious indeed.
Given the modest resources required to carry out this type of scam, most fraudsters will do more than one at a time. It’s a numbers game. If only half of them are successful, that is still a huge amount of money to ‘earn’ in a week.
As I mentioned earlier, this is all about mind-games. The fraudster plays upon the needs of teenagers to boast about their lifestyles and the love and fears of the parents for their children.
It picks away at the insecurities of partners, and their willingness to believe that their other half could have upset someone so badly to justify them kidnapping their daughter.
Finally, it preys upon the pride of victims in circumstances such as these. Similar to the victims of romance fraud, victims feel so embarrassed at being scammed, they generally decide not to report this to police.