In April, Townhall covered how a shocking report from the New York Post, detailed how teens are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create “disturbingly realistic” nude images of their classmates.
In some cases, these fake nude photos were spread like “digital wildfire.”
Now, another disturbing scam using AI has emerged, and it cost one Florida mother $15,000.
The mother, Sharon Brightwell, reportedly told reporters that last week, she received a phone call from a number that looked like her daughter’s. When she answered the phone, a voice that sounded like her daughter was sobbing, claiming to have gotten in a car accident (via The Hill):
The caller said she had hit a pregnant woman while texting and driving and claimed her phone had been taken by police. A man then got on the line, claiming to be an attorney representing her daughter. He told Sharon that her daughter was being detained and needed $15,000 in bail money in cash.
“He gave very specific instructions,” Sharon said. “He told me not to tell the bank what the money was for, that it could affect my daughter’s credit.”
Brightwell withdrew the money and placed it in a box outside her home. A driver later showed up and picked it up.
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“There is nobody that could convince me that it wasn’t her,” Brightwell told WFLA of the phone call. “I know my daughter’s cry.”
The situation gets worse. Brightwell then received a call that the unborn child died in the crash and that the family would not sue her daughter if she provided an additional $30,000.
That’s when Brightwell’s grandson got involved. He got ahold of Sharon’s daughter and found out that she was safe and at work. She had not been involved in a car accident.
Reportedly, Brightwell believes that the suspects used videos from social media to generate an AI replica of her daughter’s voice.
“I pray this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” she reportedly said. “My husband and I are recently retired. That money was our savings.”
