BBB: Scammers reported using voice cloning technology to pretend to be your boss

WASHINGTON — The Better Business Bureau is warning people about scammers using voice cloning technology to pretend to be people’s bosses to get them to send money,

The BBB said they are using voice mimicking software and in some cases ask people to send money claiming it’s for a business account.

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Last month, the Federal Trade Commission held a workshop about voice cloning technology and explored both the benefits and potential harm.

"There will be fraud based criminals who will love this technology,” Mona Sedky, a cybercrimes prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice, said. “If I can follow up a fake spearfishing email with somebody who sounds exactly like your contact at that place where you owe money, it’s huge dollar losses instantaneously.”

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Computer science experts said cloned clips can be based off of just five seconds of audio from the real person and the quality improves with a longer sample.

The BBB said business scams cost companies more than $3 billion since 2016. Click here to read more about similar scams.

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