AI ‘supercharges’ voice scam

Sitting at home one day in April, Dr. Rudolph Cumberbatch received a phone call from an unknown number. When he picked up, he recognized his grandson Eddie’s voice.

Eddie explained that he was calling from Ohio, that he’d been in a serious accident, and that though he was OK, his car had been totaled. He needed $18,000 immediately.

But when Eddie’s father, who was suspicious, called Eddie back, the 19-year-old was healthy and safe at home in his Chicago apartment. There had been no car wreck. A voice scammer had found Eddie’s popular TikTok Channel, sampled his voice with speech synthesis technology, and impersonated him.

"I sort of fell for it because basically, it sounded very much like him," Cumberbatch told Yahoo Finance. "I was so shaken up that I didn't even question it, because I get a lot of screwed-up calls and I always question these people. But this one I did not question at all."

Cumberbatch’s experience is one of many raising concerns among experts who worry that voice scams could pose an increasing threat to Americans as artificial intelligence, or AI, continues to evolve and makes it harder to detect what’s real and what’s not. Still, there are several ways Americans can protect themselves from being swindled.

"It's going to be extremely common, because what tends to happen in anything that is related to manipulated media, which this falls under, is once you have someone demonstrate the effectiveness of that technique, you're going to have an endless number of copycats who get creative with it and try to do a variation on the initial grift," said Wasim Khaled, co-founder and chief executive of Blackbird.AI, an AI-powered risk intelligence firm.

In March, the Federal Trade Commission warned of an increase in AI voice scams, while a recent McAfee study found that out of 7,000 people surveyed, one in four indicated they had experienced an AI voice scam or knew someone who had. The same study reported that 77% of those who received an AI voice call lost money.

Phishing! Don’t get hooked.

Though scams have always existed, AI has made them vastly more convincing.

For example, in romance scams, scammers have traditionally posed as prospective lovers to swindle their victims. Previously, fraudsters could connect with potential victims over email or messenger, but now they can use voice-cloning technology to disguise their voices as well. In other words, a male scammer could call a lonely old man with the fake voice of a young woman in an attempt to defraud him.

"There's impersonations, there's government agency scams, there's prize scams, there's gift card scams, caller ID spoofing," said Khaled. "All of these types of scams have been going on in one form or another… but being able to clone a voice now supercharges those existing scams that already worked pretty well, but create an additional level of authenticity as well.”

The McAfee report found that some scammers need just three seconds of audio of someone’s voice to create a convincing fake. Meanwhile, social media instructionals on voice cloning abound, meaning that even a mediocre scammer can learn the tech and produce impressive results.

Key Takeaway

In March, the Federal Trade Commission warned of an increase in AI voice scams.

But folks can still fight back, experts say.

"If you have some level of knowledge and some level of defense that you take personal responsibility for it … that's the only line of defense you have today," Khaled said, noting that from a tech perspective, there are no safeguards "in place yet."

"So you have to get educated," he added. Here’s how.

Have a security word

Experts say that security words are one of the most effective forms of defense against voice AI scams. That means coming up with a secret word or phrase, so if a fraudster calls and fails to give the secret phrase, you can be confident that you’re about to be the victim of a ruse.

"If they're asking for something like a ransom payment for a kidnapping, what is that secret word?" Khaled said. "Basically get ahead of the situation before it gets any further."

Consider location-tracking services

Dr. Michael Skiba, also known as Dr. Fraud for his expertise in scams and crime, said that tracking services like Find My or Life360 can help if you think you’re on the receiving end of a fraud.

For instance, if a swindler calls you and tells you he’s kidnapped your significant other in another country, you can verify whether that’s true on Find My Friends, which permits users to see their friends’ location on a map.

"So, if you get a call saying that your son or daughter is in Mexico and you look and they're at their college campus … you’re right off the bat thinking my flag should be out," he said.

Be wary of unknown numbers

Steve Grobman, senior vice president and chief technology officer at McAfee, advised folks to screen unexpected phone calls from unknown numbers. Many mobile providers offer call screening, where the caller has to provide identifying information before the user even answers the call. The cell providers sometimes label unknown phone numbers as "Spam Risk" or "Telemarketer."

"When in doubt, sending an unknown or unexpected number to voicemail is a good approach," Grobman said.

Be aware of your online presence

Take inventory of your social media accounts and channels where your voice is on display.

"One of the important things to do is to make any social media account private, and that is so that people can't just go onto a public Instagram account, grab audio from that video clip, and use it to synthesize a voice," said Khaled. "That's going to create a much bigger obstacle for anyone so that they can't have their voice out there."

Grobman warned users about the dangers of having too much information available online. He said that social media offers “a gold mine” for scammers who want to tailor their messaging to particular individuals.

"To better mitigate these risks, periodically review your social media connections and privacy settings to ensure you’re sharing only with people you know and trust," he said. "If you have an open social media profile, it’s critical to be more on guard when it comes to communications you receive, as the public, including scammers, have access to more information about you."

Hang up and call back

If you think you’re receiving a call from a scammer, hang up and call back. That way, you can confirm the identity of the caller.

"You call them back at their real number," Khaled said.

Even if the scammer posing as your loved one says they’re calling from a kidnapper cell, still call that loved one back on their usual number.

"If you call back the real number and they pick up, [everything is] … it's another great way to just quickly spot check," he said.

Pause and take a deep breath

Scammers try to generate panic to swindle their victims. When experiencing a flight-or-flight response, victims struggle to think clearly and tend to make impulsive decisions, like wiring vast sums of money to an afflicted relative or acquaintance. That’s why, Grobman said, it’s important to remain calm.

"Scammers prey on creating a sense of fear and urgency, since it means their victims are much more likely to act first and ask questions later," he said. "Taking a few seconds to calmly analyze the situation allows users to better identify fraudulent communications."

"The primary key to avoiding most scams is being vigilant and alert," he added.

Spread the word

Perhaps the best way to fight back against scams is to spread awareness, Khaled said. Warn your family, friends, and colleagues of the prevalence of AI voice frauds.

"It's not just your elder relatives now, because they're not the only ones falling for it," he added. "So spreading the word is critical if you happen to be the one that sees the information first."

Do you really need insurance for your water and sewer lines? Here’s what to know.

In the last few months, we have been receiving TMWA label solicitations to buy exterior water line service agreements. The article is taken from the Washington Post article from 2021. This talks about the information you can use to make a decision about purchasing such a service plan. Ps

Millions of U.S. homeowners regularly receive official-looking notices on letterhead in envelopes bearing the logos of their utility companies. They contain ominous warnings that you, the homeowner, are responsible for repairs to water and sewer lines on your property.

The clincher: If there are problems, “you could spend thousands of dollars to fix them, as most standard homeowners insurance policies do not cover these repairs,” warned one “Repair Responsibility Notice.”

These notices often convince homeowners that there are hidden defects on their properties that need to be addressed. Why else would their utility companies issue such dramatic warnings?

Although these mailings seem to come from utility companies, they’re really pitches from third-party companies that have struck partnership agreements with utility providers, allowing them use of their names and logos to sell their warranty plans.

More than 7 million U.S. homeowners have so far purchased these plans, pulling in $900 million a year, according to information disclosed in annual reports from the largest warranty companies.

In the Washington area, Dominion Energy, NOVEC (a cooperative that serves large portions of Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties), and the municipal governments of District Heights, Forest Heights, Laytonsville and Poolesville partner with private warranty companies to help market these plans.

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) used to help sell these plans, but in 2019, it let the agreement expire after its warranty company partner bought CroppMetcalfe, a large plumbing outfit operating in the Washington area. (WSSC issues plumbing licenses and permits and could no longer continue such a deal with a company it also regulates.)

Nationally, these deals are also widespread. The water utilities serving Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Newark, New York City, Philadelphia, Orlando, Salt Lake City, San Diego and San Francisco have signed on to help private companies sell warranty plans.

Marketing materials received by homeowners often warn of dramatic potential costs if they don’t protect themselves with offered coverage. One company’s website warns of an average $2,585 cost to replace a water line, and a $3,389 cost for a sewer line. Another pegs the “typical” cost of repairs higher still: $3,500 for water, $8,500 for sewer. And a video presentation used by one company to recruit utility companies features a horror story where a couple’s burst water and sewer lines caused $20,000 in damage.

But Checkbook’s research finds that few homeowners ever have to deal with expensive water or sewer line repairs or replacements. Our researchers examined permit records and dug up similar data from several large cities and found scant evidence that this is a common job at all:

●Claims data from a WSSC interoffice memo obtained by Checkbook indicated that only 4,450 exterior water and sewer claims were made from the 126,207 plans purchased during the program’s first 2½ years, an annualized incidence rate of 1.4 percent.

●Checkbook’s review of San Francisco’s permits in 2019 found that it issued only 369 water and/or sewer line restorations or replacements — out of the 112,115 single-family homes served by the city’s utility company. The chance of needing a restoration or replacement there was only 0.3 percent.

●Minneapolis approved only 667 work permits involving home sewer laterals in 2019. That works out to a rate of 0.7 percent of the city’s approximately 100,000 sewer lines serving homes there — and because the city didn’t exclude permits for new construction from its counts, 0.7 percent is overstating the chance of trouble.

●The Philadelphia Water Department issued 2,459 “Notices of Defect” in 2019 for residential sewer laterals that the department discovered were in need of repair. That was 0.5 percent of its 481,728 customers.

Other research shows that water lines can be trouble-free for years. Juneseok Lee, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Manhattan College, looked at data supplied by a warranty company that had paid for more than 47,000 water line replacements or repairs over 10 years. Lee concluded that “it is not a question of if the piping will fail but rather when.”

However, that report’s findings indicate that “when” is probably a long, long time away. It found that lines made of copper, the most common material used for water lines, typically last 30 to 80 years. Galvanized steel pipes — also common — usually last even longer: 40 to 100 years. Even comparably weak plastic pipes (such as PVC and polyethylene) last 20 to 40 years. And because the study looked only at pipes that failed, your pipes may last a lot longer than these estimates.

Bottom line: Even if you own a house for decades, your odds of having a catastrophic water or sewer line failure are quite low.

Even if you need a repair or replacement, costs will probably fall well short of the thousands of dollars cited by the warranty companies.

One warranty company told Checkbook that over the past three years, it had paid for “more than 400,000 water-related repairs, . . . saving residents $232 million in out-of-pocket repair costs.”

But the company’s own numbers reveal a key issue: Divide that $232 million in repair bills by the 400,000 claimants, and the average payout was just $580.

The WSSC reported during its agreement with a warranty company that claims for sewer line repairs also averaged just $580; the average for water line claims was $1,565.

These average costs of repairs reveal that although warranty companies rely on worst-case scenarios to sell their plans, “most often, the claim you put in is for a clogged line, and the first thing they try to do is unclog it,” said Alon Abramson, program manager for the Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA). “More often than not, that fixes the problem.”

In other words, when repairs are needed, they rarely cost thousands of dollars, but are usually done by a plumber using a snake.

In exchange for lending their names and logos, the utilities that sign on to help sell these warranties get a share of the premiums.

For example, for 2020, the warranty company working with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) paid it $3.61 every month for each enrolled policy, according to a public document posted online by SFPUC. The plans were sold for $12.99 a month. That means 28 percent of premiums it collected went to the SFPUC.

That document shows that the SFPUC receives the same $3.61 from the warranty company’s $8.99/month sewer-only warranties and its $4.49/month water-only plans. So, for those, commissions equal about 40 and 80 percent, respectively. SFPUC expects to make more than $1 million from this deal over its first four-year term.

The deal signed by the PEA also funnels a portion of the premiums back to it. The plans cost $7.98 a month for water-sewer warranties purchased in 2020; the PEA got 20 percent of that, plus up to $500,000 in annual fees, according to information supplied to Washington Consumers’ Checkbook in response to a public records request. In 2019, the first full year of its contract, Philadelphia’s share was $1.3 million.

Many utilities that partner with warranty companies say they direct their shares of sales to a good cause.

Yvonne Kingman, a spokesperson for Washington (State) Water Service, told Checkbook it recycles the warranty fees it gets back to its customers: “We’re regulated. The money we collect is all used for company-related projects. We don’t pocket the money. We charge customers for the actual cost of providing the water service.”

But, of course, even if it gets directed toward a charitable fund, all the revenue collected by these warranty companies is derived from utilities’ cooperation in enrolling their customers or constituents in these plans.

Douglas Heller with the Consumer Federation of America noted that “these deals are so clearly problematic that even those willing to take them require some veneer of justification that it is a public benefit.”

Checkbook often warns about these types of “peace of mind” policies, which are typically overpriced. Although you should buy insurance to protect against risks that could be financially catastrophic — house fires, liability claims, auto accidents, medical care — you shouldn’t pay to cover the risk of paying for unlikely repairs you can afford.

Washington Consumers’ Checkbook magazine and Checkbook.org is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help consumers get the best service and lowest prices. It is supported by consumers and takes no money from the service providers it evaluates.

You can access all of Checkbook’s ratings and advice free of charge until March 15 at checkbook.org/washingtonpost/insurance.