Rising AI Threat Sounds Like Your Loved One on the Phone — But It's Not Really ThemOne distraught father grabbed cash and drove to a meetup point before he learned the truth.

AIhas the potential to make our lives a lot easier, allowing us tomulti-taskand save time. But its sophistication can also be used against us — by other people.

In an increasingly widespread scam, bad actors arecloning voicesof people's loved ones with AI; they call their victims on the phone and use the voice to ask for money under false pretenses, NBC Nightly Newsreported.

Related:4 Tips to Spot a Remote Work Job Scam, According to an Expert

One father interviewed by the outlet revealed that he got a call he thought was from his daughter, saying she'd been kidnapped and was being held for ransom. He was so convinced he grabbed cash and drove to a meetup location before his wife called his actual daughter — and discovered it was a scam.

Last year, reportedfraudlosses increased 30% year over year to nearly $8.8 billion, and there were more than 36,000 reports of people being scammed by those pretending to be friends and family, according to data from theFederal Trade Commission.

Perpetrators of phone scams can pull voice snippets fromsocial media— then use them to wreak havoc.

AI voice-generating software can decipher what makes a person's voice distinct — including age, gender and accent — then sift through an enormous database of voices to locate similar ones and find patterns, Hany Farid, a professor of digital forensics at the University of California at Berkeley, toldThe Washington Post.

Related:Retired Teacher Loses $200k in Wire Fraud Email Scam

TheFederal Trade Commission敦促人们要注意调用使用voice clones; if a call from a loved one seems suspicious, hang up and call the person yourself to verify the claim.