The increasing use of technology fueled by modernization has no doubt given rise to online scams and frauds. One such scam that is going on these days is the AI impostor scam, and Indians are at a high risk of the same. Wonder if someone from your family, like your parents or siblings, calls you and tells you about an emergency and asks for money. Most of us will pay immediately in this kind of situation. However, what if we tell you that all of it is part of a scam?
McAfee has released a cybersecurity AI report that discusses the problems related to the AI impostor. In this fraud, scammers are cloning the voice of the relatives of the victims and then asking for money, describing some emergency. The report also mentioned that India should be pretty worried due to this scam as it can affect a lot of people. The reason behind the same is that India is considered one of the most scammed countries in the world. Apart from that, most of the active people on social media will definitely get hit by the AI impostor scam. Moving further in this article, we will talk about the AI impostor scam, its working, and how one can be safe from it.
AI impostor scam: Definition and working
According to the McAfee report, around thirty to forty per cent of Indians share their voice online every week at least once. This consists of shorts, reels, and videos that may include the voice of the uploader. These scammers use audio samples to make voice clones. After that, these voice clones are used to scam the relatives and friends of the person by asking for help. According to the report by McAfee, twenty per cent of Indians have received similar kinds of voice notes and calls.
On a regular basis, users have experienced calls related to their relative’s accidents or maybe related to wallet or phone theft. In these cases, more than 60% of Indians were ready to send the money instantly. Around 20% out of the 60 lost a figure of more than $1000 which converts to Rs 82,000. In addition, 7% of people lost amounts ranging from Rs 4,00,000 to Rs 12,00,000.
How to defend yourself from an AI impostor scam?
If you get this kind of calls, then you should ask something that is between you and the relative you got a call from. This will help you establish the identity of the user.
If you are someone who is highly active on social media, then you should look out for something like identity protection services that will help you in being safe from any kind of data threat.
Another important thing that you should follow is that you should avoid all unknown callers on your phone, as these calls can also be used to clone your voice.
