“Millions” of people could fall victim to scams using artificial intelligence to clone their voices, a UK bank has warned.
Starling Bank, an online-only lender, said fraudsters are capable of using AI to replicate a person’s voice from just three seconds of audio found in, for example, a video the person has posted online.
Scammers can then identify the person’s friends and family members and use the AI-cloned voice to stage a phone call to ask for money.
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These types of scams have the potential to “catch millions out,” Starling Bank said on Wednesday.
They have already affected hundreds of people.
According to a survey of more than 3,000 adults, which the bank conducted with Mortar Research last month, more than a quarter of respondents said they have been targeted by an AI voice-cloning scam in the past 12 months.
The survey also showed 46 per cent of respondents were not aware that such scams existed, and 8 per cent would send as much money as requested by a friend or family member even if they thought the call seemed strange.
