Mumbai Businessman Loses Rs 80,000 in AI Voice Cloning Scam

In Mumbai, a 68-year-old businessman  residing in Powai found himself duped out of Rs 80,000 in a sophisticated scam involving artificial intelligence voice cloning. The victim, identified as KT Vinod, received a fraudulent call purportedly from the Indian Embassy in Dubai, falsely asserting that his 43-year-old son had been apprehended and was facing the prospect of life imprisonment. Upon investigating the complaint lodged by Vinod, the Kanjurmarg police disclosed that the perpetrator even employed the son's voice during the call, imploring for bail.

On March 30, Vinod was contacted and informed of his son Amit's purported arrest in Dubai. Describing the harrowing experience in his complaint, Vinod expressed his initial shock, followed swiftly by the fraudster playing a voice that closely resembled his son's. In this distressing simulation, his son was heard crying and pleading for bail. Vinod recounted being denied the opportunity to contact his son directly, as the fraudster pressed for an immediate money transfer instead.

A police officer from Kanjurmarg revealed that the fraudster instructed Vinod to transfer funds via GPay. He asked his office staff to transfer money. He realised that he had been duped when the fraudster immediately disconnected the call the moment the money was transferred. Vinod called up his son in Dubai and found that he was at his home and was never arrested. The cyber team is tracking the bank details to track the accused, TOI reported.

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On April 2, SS Sarkar, a 58-year-old professor from NMIMS College, became ensnared in a fraudulent scheme, resulting in a loss of Rs1 lakh. The ordeal began with Sarkar receiving a call purportedly from 'Inspector Vijaykumar' of the Mumbai police, claiming that her son had been detained. She was coerced into transferring money to secure her son's release, under threat of him being incarcerated otherwise. A Juhu police officer revealed that the fraudster had gleaned Sarkar's profile and family details from social media, leveraging AI intelligence for this nefarious purpose.