Heidi and Robert W. live in South Sound, Washington.
One day Heidi and Robert were at home when they got a call from their daughter telling them she had been in a car accident at Walmart.
“As soon as the call came in, I heard our daughter on the phone. It was unmistakably her,” Robert said.
Their daughter told them about the accident and that they needed to come get her, then told her mom to talk to a guy who was with her.
Heidi assumed that she handed the phone to the person she had gotten into the accident with.
But the man on the phone immediately started threatening Heidi.
He said, “I’m going to tell you right now I’m not a police officer, I have your daughter, and if you ever want to see her safe again, you will do what I tell you.”
“You do not hang up. If you do, I will hurt your daughter,” the caller said.
Robert was listening to the call and jumped in the car to drive to Walmart.
He sped to the Walmart while calling 911 and explaining the situation.
When Robert arrived at the store, he drove around the parking lot but didn’t find his daughter.
“I don’t see any signs of her or another car or anything. And – just that sinking feeling,” Robert said.
Robert thought he was too late. That they’d taken his daughter.
Meanwhile, Heidi was still at home and on the phone with the kidnapper.
“The original amount was $10,000,” Heidi said.
“I was getting into my car to go to the bank and pull out cash. I would have met him to get my daughter,” she said.
But the kidnapper demanded the ransom be paid by wire transfer.
At this point, Heidi received a text from her daughter saying she was at school and texted her mom a picture to prove to her that she was safe.
That’s when Heidi hung up on the supposed kidnapper.
Robert was talking to the police when Heidi called and told him it was all a scam.
It turns out that the scammers had used artificial intelligence to create a voice that sounded similar to the couple’s daughter.
And the scary thing is, this type of scam is happening more than ever before thanks to the rise in AI technology.
Of course, when criminals come up with a new scam, technology companies look for ways to stop it.
This is one reason why Google is developing artificial intelligence software that can detect scam phone calls.
The way it works is that the AI will detect patterns associated with scams and alert the phone user when a scam is in progress.
For example, if a person received a call and the caller asked for banking information the victim would receive a notification on their device.
The notification would tell them that the caller was likely a scam because banks don’t ask for that information.
While this type of feature would be useful in protecting victims from scams, it comes with security concerns.
So, before you sign up for this feature, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Audio files:
According to Google, the audio files from this feature wouldn’t be transferred from the phone.
Instead, they would be stored on the device, which is just as dangerous.
Of course, the company said the audio processing would stay private.
Yet, we all know that hackers access smartphones all the time.
So, if you lost your phone or it was hacked all your private conversations could be shared.
Mass surveillance:
This type of data collection could open the door to mass surveillance.
There would be no privacy for phone calls.
One tech expert said this type of technology would make J. Edgar Hoover jealous.
The technology could easily go from detecting scams to detecting people who support specific political ideas.
Or it could detect people who talk about gun ownership.
Frankly, it could be used to target virtually any group, which is scary.
Advertising:
When you do an internet search for a specific product you will likely see a lot of advertisements for similar items.
I’m sure we have all experienced how annoying this can be.
This is because your internet browsing is being tracked and you are being targeted with advertisements.
For instance, if you search for Nike shoes you will see advertisements for shoes on social media and other websites you visit.
But it would be ten times worse if advertisers could do the same thing with phone calls.
Everything you talked about would be analyzed for advertisements, including your most personal topics.
Over 70% of mobile devices around the world use Google’s Android system.
Soon, Google could be listening to 70% of the phone calls made in the world.
Fraud is rampant, and technology companies are always looking for ways to protect customers.
But the solution may come with a price or even create a bigger problem.
The bottom line is that you must have a comprehensive system to protect yourself and your information.
Relying on the tech companies for your security could catastrophically backfire.
