'Definitely my son's voice': Manitoba woman targeted by AI phone scam

Mike Arsenault · CBC News

· Posted: May 14, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

A Manitoba pistillate is speaking up aft receiving a telephone telephone she said was an AI scam that utilized a loved one's voice.

Leann Friesen, a parent of 3 from the tiny confederate Manitoba assemblage of Miami, got a telephone telephone a mates of weeks agone from a backstage number. Although the idiosyncratic connected the different extremity of the telephone sounded similar her son, the speech was odd, she said.

"He said, 'Hi mom,' and I said hi. He said, 'Mom, tin I archer you anything?' and I said yes. He said, 'Without judgment?'" said Friesen.

"I'm getting a small spot confused astatine that point — like, wherefore are you asking maine this?"

Friesen said the telephone was giving her an uneasy feeling, truthful she told the caller she'd telephone him backmost connected his cellphone and hung up.

"I instantly called my son, and I woke him retired of his sleep, due to the fact that helium works displacement work. He said, 'Mom, I didn't telephone you.' But it was decidedly my son's dependable that was connected the different extremity of the line."

Using artificial quality to scam idiosyncratic implicit the telephone is simply a caller attack by fraudsters, with criminals using AI software to marque themselves dependable similar their victims' loved ones. The scammers tin usage abbreviated clips of a person's dependable recovered online to re-create a person's dependable successful a scam call, according to police.

Friesen isn't the lone idiosyncratic being targeted. The subordinate of the legislative assembly for Burrows, Diljeet Brar, said his dependable was utilized recently in an effort to scam 1 of his constituents.

"[The constituent] said, 'It was your voice.' He has talked to maine galore times. In the assemblage I conscionable those seniors often, and helium said [it was] the nonstop aforesaid voice."

Brar said the caller asked the constituent for $5,000, but the idiosyncratic targeted caught connected earlier transferring immoderate money. 

The MLA said helium is speaking up truthful radical are much alert of AI scams.

"I was acrophobic astir the seniors who don't cognize overmuch astir the latest technology.  They don't usage technology, they don't cognize however AI works. And I thought astir however susceptible they are," helium said.

"It was shocking."

Targeted 'spear phishing': investigator

Keith Elliott is simply a certified fraud examiner, and the CEO of Reed Research Investigations, a nonrecreational investigation firm based successful Toronto. He said this benignant of scam is simply a rotation connected a communal 1 known arsenic the "grandparent scam," which typically involves idiosyncratic calling the unfortunate and posing arsenic a grandchild successful ineligible trouble, saying they request currency successful bid to beryllium released from constabulary custody. 

"The existent inclination close present is leveraging AI to facilitate antithetic levels of that scam to usage voices that are acquainted to the parties," said Elliott, describing it arsenic a benignant of "phishing" scam.

"It's a small much elaborate — it's what we would notation to arsenic 'spear phishing,' due to the fact that it's precise targeted astatine a circumstantial person."

Elliott said helium teaches techniques to verify whether a caller on the telephone is who they assertion to be.

He suggests calling the idiosyncratic backmost connected a fig you trust, oregon baiting them with mendacious information.

"Say, 'Oh, person you talked to your sister lately?' And the idiosyncratic volition be, like, 'No, I haven't had a accidental to speech to her.' I don't adjacent person a sister, truthful you cognize it's a fraud," said Elliott.

"That person's going to provender you the answer, truthful you person to provender them a prevarication that you cognize is going to bait them the other way."

Elliott besides said if thing seems off, spot your instincts. 

AI fraud attempts and cyber crimes tin beryllium reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Data from the government bureau indicates Canadians lost $638 cardinal to fraud past year, but it estimates lone 5 to 10 per cent of fraud is really reported.