By WMBD-TV

CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul is urging Illinois residents to look for phone scammers utilizing AI voices.

Phone scammers often invoke victim’s loved ones to trick them into sending money or sharing personal information. Thanks to AI now being able to mimic voices, scammers have a new tool to coerce victims.

Snippets of audio available through social media or other sources can be used by AI to clone a voice for a scam call.

“These criminals are very good and convincing at what they do. Their goal is to catch you off guard, scare you into sending payment and disappear before you realize what happened,” Raoul said.

He continued, “Getting a call from what sounds like a family member in distress is upsetting, but you may not be able to trust the identity of the voice on the line. Take a deep breath, slow down and take steps to confirm the identity of the caller, especially if they are pushing you to send a payment or disclose personal information.”

Raoul released the following tips to avoid getting scammed:

• Scammers Come to You. They may send you an unsolicited email or text message, call you or knock on your door. Be wary if someone you didn’t contact is reaching out to sell you something or asking for personal information.
• Scammers Pressure You to Act Quickly. Their goal is to get you to send payment before you get a chance to think about it or discuss it with a trusted family member or friend. 
• Scammers Want Your Personal Information. They may claim to be the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, your electric provider, a bank, or anyone you might trust. If you are a customer, these entities already have your information and don’t need you to provide it. If they are legitimate, they have specific and familiar ways to contact you or request payment. 
• Scammers Want You to Pay in Unusual Ways. They may ask you to buy a gift card and read the numbers, wire money, set up a cryptocurrency account, or use a peer-to-peer app to send money directly to them. Once you read the numbers from the card, wire the money, or hit send on that peer-to-peer app, it is nearly impossible for you to get that money back.
• If It Sounds Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is. Scammers often make you an offer that sounds too good to be true, then use that bait to ask for an upfront payment or personal information before they can “close” the deal. 

In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission issued a warning about AI scams. Any Illinois resident who thinks they may have been a victim of a phone AI scam should click here.

WMBD-TV can be reached at [email protected].