Associated Incidents
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A school district in New York has issued a warning about a new scam using artificial intelligence to imitate the voice of family members over the phone.
On Jan. 8, The Peekskill Central School District in northern Westchester County warned parents in a letter that at least two families had been contacted as part of a "virtual kidnapping extortion call."
The calls, according to Peekskill Superintendent David Mauricio, involve calls from strangers demanding a ransom after claiming that a relative of their had been kidnapped.
While scams of this nature have existed in the past, a new wrinkle is the use of artificial intelligence tools to fake the family member's voice and make the threat seem more real.
In the letter, anyone who receives a similar call is advised to immediately attempt to contact their family member and then contact police once the relative is confirmed to be safe.
In general, these types of calls are made from outside area codes, could involve multiple phones and will only accept money via wire transfer services, according to the letter from Mauricio.
The letter also warns that these types of scams do not come from the phone of the alleged kidnapping victim and the callers will go to great lengths to keep recipients on the phone so they cannot check on their family members.