A Mom Was Nearly Scammed Out of $50,000 After AI Cloned Her Daughter’s Voice

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A Michigan mother claims she was nearly duped out of $50,000 in an AI scam using her daughter’s voice. Mary Schat says she received a call from an unknown number, but a familiar place. Her daughter, Dori, attends college in Holland, Michigan, and when she saw the area code, Schat decided to answer. The voice sounded just like her daughter’s, but something wasn’t right.

Schat told WOOD that her daughter’s voice sounded muffled, and she had a hard time understanding her. But what she could hear was that someone was allegedly taking her daughter and that if Schat wanted her safe, she’d have to pay.

At first, Schat thought nothing of the call.

@bethroyce I feel the need to tell everyone I know about this. Literally the scarriest moment of my entire life #scam #scammers #scammed #hostagesituation #trauma #phonescam #fyp #foryoupage #fypシ #viral ♬ original sound - Bethroyce

According to Schat, who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, her daughter attends Hope College in Holland. When she received a call from the area on November 3, she thought it might be her. “It didn’t say potential spam or anything. So. I thought, well, my daughter is in Holland,” Schat said. “I better answer it. Maybe this is about her.”

Something seemed wrong with Dori.

The frightened mother said she heard her daughter’s muffled voice and then she was screaming. “I said, ‘Dori you have to help me understand you. You need to calm down,’” Schat told WOOD. “’What’s going on?’ This continued and she was mumbling something and then I heard, ‘They’re taking me. They’re taking me.’”

A caller suddenly demanded money.

The person on the other end said he belonged to a Mexican cartel and that her daughter had been in a car crash. They demanded $50,000. Schat planned to pay the “kidnapper.” She and the man arranged to meet at a hardware store.

“When it’s your own daughter, I’m like, heck yeah. I’m going to give whatever they need. As long as I can. And that’s why I was panicking. I was like I can’t get $50,000 right now,” she said. “I was scanning the room looking for my keys. I was ready to go to the ATM machine. I was ready to go to the neighbors to see if they would go with me.”

Schat’s husband called police.

When her husband called the police, they told her it was likely an AI scam and to call their daughter’s phone. When they did, Dori answered and said she was safe in her apartment. “It was definitely her voice. A mother knows her daughter’s voice and her daughter’s crying,” Schat said.

AI scams are becoming more common.

According to the Better Business Bureau, some AI scams employ voice cloning. The technology uses small samples of people’s voices from places like social media. AI then crafts conversations from the sample.

The BBB warns that no matter how legitimate it sounds, to contact the person in question before ever sending money. “I thought I was very aware of these hoaxes and these scams,” Schat said. “It was completely terrifying. [I thought] how is this happening to me?”