FTC Warns That Scammers Are Cloning Your Relatives' Voice To Steal Your Money

Anecdotal accounts were already abound of people losing money to scammers cloning the voices of their relatives. Now, it's apparently become enough of a prevalent -- and serious -- issue that federal regulators feel the need to step in. On Monday, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a consumer alert on emerging voice cloning scams, warning people that their desperate friend or relative on the other end of the phone asking for money may actually be an AI simulacrum of their voice wielded by a scammer. "All [a scammer] needs is a short audio clip of your family member's voice -- which he could get from content posted online -- and a voice-cloning program," the FTC wrote. "When the scammer calls you, he'll sound just like your loved one."