Easy one word trick that instantly catches out AI ‘voice clones’ so they never raid your bank account

THE rise of AI is making it even harder to tell apart real phone calls from fakes.

And falling for the fakes could be devastating, leaving your bank account high and dry.

Getty

Getty

Cheap AI tools make it easier than ever for cyber crooks to rip off people’s identities.

Although it’s not available to the public yet, ChatGPT creator OpenAI recently revealed how their tech alone can reproduce convincing voice replicas with just 15 seconds of audio from a person speaking.

Around one in four people have experienced an AI voice cloning scam or know someone who has, according to a McAfee study last year.

Fraudsters start by snooping through your social media for videos or making dubious calls to record your voice.

Once crooks have what they need, they can use AI to mimic your voice and call friends or family, where the scamming really kicks in.

They can make calls pretending to be you needing money for an emergency.

Fortunately there is a super easy way to avoid potential ruin and expose AI voice clones.

And all it requires is one word – a safe word, set up between you, family and friends.

Think of it as like a traditional password but one you use among people you know for an alarming call, so you know they are who they claim to be.

Come up with a single safe word that you share with each other in person, so next time you get a call where a loved one is asking for money you can demand the code and know whether the caller is real or not.

Professor Hany Farid, from the University of California, told Scientific American: “Right now there is no other obvious way to know that the person you are talking to is who they say they are.

“Ask each other what the code is every once in a while – because unlike a [computer] password, we don’t use the code word very often, so it is easy to forget.”

Key signs to catch an AI voice clone

There are other ways to detect an AI voice clone.

Digital payment solutions provider Takepayments has shared four key signs to look out for.

• Unexpected calls demanding urgent financial actions
  
  Even if the voice sounds like someone you know, an unexpected call which pressures an immediate financial transfer should be treated as a red flag.
  
  
• Inconsistencies in the conversation
  
  Voice-cloning technology often struggles to create coherent and contextually accurate conversations.
  
  If the “person” on the other end contradicts themselves, gives information that doesn’t align with what you know – such as using an unknown number –  or seems to dodge direct questions, it’s a reason for concern.
  
  A good test is to ask the person a question only they would know the answer to or come up with a “safe word” to use during an emergency, as explained above.
  
  Also listen for robotic-sounding speech and unnatural pauses or break in speech. 
  
  
• Background noise that sounds artificial
  
  Scammers often use background sounds to give the impression they are calling from a specific location, like a bank.
  
  However, if these sounds seem looped, overly consistent, or don’t match the context of the call, they could be artificially added post-production to lend authenticity to the scam.
  
  
• Requests for money via cryptocurrency or gift cards
  
  Cryptocurrency are often the payment method of choice for many criminals as it’s impossible to trace the identity of who money is being sent to.