Intelligence firm Recorded Future has warned Australians to beware of criminals using AI-assisted voice-cloning technology (also known as “deep fake” voice technology) to scam vulnerable people.
Recorded Future's latest report found that criminals have been using the latest AI technology to impersonate organisations or individuals.
Alexander Leslie, an analyst for Recorded Future who prepared the research, said AI made it easier for scammers to fool consumers and employees, with “deep fake” voice technology allowing criminals to impersonate companies, government agencies, and even family members.
“The rise of deep fakes is a great example of this, and what we're seeing now is that more Australians are falling victims of these elaborate schemes,” Leslie said, as reported by The New Daily.
“The outlook for voice cloning and its use in particular in banking fraud, disinformation, social engineering, copyright infringement, and more is bleak if we do not immediately adopt an industry-wide approach to mitigating associated risks.”
In Recorded Future's example, scammers used AI “deep fake” voice technology to turn voice samples into tricks designed to access people's finances. Specifically, a one-minute voice sample allowed criminals to effectively mimic a target's family members or trusted individuals in someone's life.
“A family emergency scam is a type of fraud where the scammer poses as a family member or friend in need of urgent financial assistance due to an emergency,” the report said. “Scammers can also involve fake authority figures, such as a law enforcement officer, lawyer, or doctor, to make the lure more convincing and scare the victim.”
Ransomware and data breach are other cyber incidents that organisations need to look out for. Early this month, the 2023 Thales Data Threat Report revealed that over a third of Australian organisations (36%) experienced a data breach in the last 12 months.
Meanwhile, Trend Micro's latest Cyber Risk Index (CRI) found that more Australian organisations have started focusing on boosting their cyber resilience – but many remain pessimistic over the coming year.
