Voice message scams – don’t believe everything you hear.
Starling Bank research found the average UK adult has been targeted by fraud five times in the past year. Recently their survey of 3000 people highlighted the growing danger of sophisticated voice messages using cloned voices. These frauds go well beyond the “Mum, I’ve lost my phone” texts and WhatsApp messages that have caught out thousands, including myself.
This new approach is AI driven and clones the voice of the caller. The actor James Nesbitt, probably best known for his role in the tv series Cold Feet, appears in a short film demonstrating the accuracy of cloned voice messages. It is alarming just how convincing the created voice is. All it takes is three seconds of a voice recording to recreate an accurate voice reproduction. The fact that many people think nothing of posting videos and voice recordings online simply adds opportunity for misuse.
In previous blogs we highlighted the ever-changing sophistication of financial scams. AI is fuelling the criminal’s ability to become ever more convincing when masquerading as a friend or family member in need of help.
Starling has joined the government’s “Stop Think Fraud” campaign and started “Safe Phrases”. This scheme urges people to agree a word or phrase with family and friends. It could be anything from, “Get a receipt” to “Day after tomorrow.” Phrases that could be part of any conversation where money is concerned.
As always, vigilance is important. Often your “gut reaction” to the style, language or even grammar is enough to prime your suspicions and raise your defences. But being confronted with a familiar voice with the expected inflection and tone asking for help is likely to be a more difficult scam to identify.
Multi-factor authentication is a standard security management tool. When you are making an online purchase and you click to buy, you get a message saying a code has been sent to your phone for you to enter and verify your identity. If someone leaves a voice message you are unsure of, you should contact the person directly on a number you recognise or have previously used. Do not use the number they have used to contact you. Check if they had made the call, or sent the message. This is exactly what we do when a client contacts us with a request. Simple but effective.
In the event of being scammed, when you report it, and you should, your bank will ask what actions you took to establish the identity of the parties involved. Having a prepared process in place to mitigate the risk of fraud is likely reduce your chances of the scam being successful. If, unfortunately, the criminals are successful, your prepared process and actions could support your case for return of any stolen money.
It is depressing that we have to spend so much time and effort to protect what’s ours from those that appear so determined to make it theirs.