Hi, I'm Bob Sullivan, and this is The Perfect Scam.

This week we'll be talking with people about a new form of the Grandparents'

scam, one that plays on victims heartstrings by using audio recordings of loved ones asking for help abroad.

What makes this new is that the voices are actually AI generated and they sound pretty

convincing.

In fact, you're listening to one right now.

I'm not really Bob Sullivan.

I'm an AI generated voice based on about three minutes worth of recordings of Bob on this program.

Sounds pretty convincing though, doesn't it?

Welcome back to the perfect scam. I'm your real host Bob Sullivan.

Today we are bringing you a very special episode about a new development in the tech world that, well frankly, threatens to make things much easier

for criminals and much harder for you.

Artificial Intelligence, AI.

If you listen to some people, it's already being used to supercharge the common

grandparent scam or imposter scam because it's relatively easy and cheap for

criminals to copy anyone's voice and make them say whatever

the criminals want.

What you heard at the beginning of this podcast wasn't me.

It was an audio file generated with my permission by Professor Jonathan Anderson, an

expert in artificial intelligence and computer security at Memorial University in Canada.

And as I said, well as that voice said, it sounds pretty

convincing. It also might sound kind of like a novelty or even a light-hearted joke, until you hear what some victims are saying.

...