The Palm Beach Police Department wants to alert the community to reports of family emergency schemes that use artificial intelligence (AI) in order to clone family member voices. While family emergency schemes are not new, the use of AI-generated voices to enact the scams is. Family emergency schemes include the common grandchild arrest scam where a caller poses as a grandchild and claims to have been arrested and in need of bond or bail payment immediately. There have been recent reports that these calls use AI-generated voices to clone a family member’s voice with the intention of making the scam more believable. Please check the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) alert on the matter (https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2023/03/scammers-use-ai-enhance-their-family-emergency-schemes) for more information.
Be vigilant and verify suspicious stories or reports through contacting the family member or other loved ones or friends, and be highly suspicious of anyone requesting or requiring payment via money wires, cryptocurrency, or gift cards. As always, you can contact the Palm Beach Police Department (561-838-5454) if you need assistance or think that you have been the victim of a scam. Scams can also be reported to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.