14 June 2023 , 10:30
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A mum has retold the horrifying moment scammers used artificial intelligence (AI) to copy her daughter's voice and stage a fake kidnapping in a ransom call.
Jennifer DeStefano delivered emotional testimony in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which she said her phone rang on January 20 and she heard screaming and sobbing when she answered.
The voice on the other end was that of her daughter Brianna, just 15 years old - saying "I messed up."
“What did you do? What happened?” Jennifer, from Scottsdale, Arizona, replied.
The cry for help continued before a male voice told the scared mum: "Listen here. I have your daughter.
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"You call the police, you call anybody, I’m gonna pop her something so full of drugs.
Jennifer DeStefano with her daughters, Brie (left) and Aubrey (middle)"I’m gonna have my way with her then drop her off in Mexico, and you’re never going to see her again."
Jennifer was outside the dance studio where her younger daughter Aubrey had a rehearsal at the time.
She had picked up the phone despite it being an unknown number because Brianna (also known as Brie) was training for a ski race at the time and was away from home.
Aubrey, 13, was left shaking and crying listening to screams she thought belonged to her sister.
Jennifer spoke before the Senate Judiciary Committee (REX/Shutterstock)Panicked, Jennifer rushed inside the dance studio as the man's voice on the line told her Brianna's kidnapping was part of a $1 million ransom.
“You better have all the cash, or both you and your daughter are dead,” the caller said, threatening that he would have to pick Jennifer up in a white van, where he would place a bag on her head and drive her to a quiet location.
The ransom fee was eventually lowered to $50,000 and the call included instructions on how to wire the scammers money.
Jennifer told CNN: "It was obviously the sound of her voice... It was the crying, it was the sobbing.
"What really got to me is that she’s not a wailer.
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Brianna, 15, known as Brie was the victim of an AI scam (Facebook)"She’s not a screamer. She’s not a freakout. She’s more of an internal, try-to-contain, try-to-manage person.
"That’s what threw me off. It was the voice, matching with the crying."
The call wasn't revealed as a scam until after a 911 call had been made and a confused Brianna called her mum to tell her she was ok.
The grim 911 call was recorded by the Scottsdale Police Department and a parent at the dance studio said a "kidnapper" would not "let her talk to her daughter."
'The voice sounded just like Brie’s,' Jennifer chillingly recalled (KHPO)"So, a mother just came in, she received a phone call from someone who has her daughter … like a kidnapper on the phone saying he wants a million dollars," a parent at the dance studio said.
“The voice sounded just like Brie’s, the inflection, everything,” Jennifer added.
“Then, all of a sudden, I heard a man say, ‘Lay down, put your head back.’ I’m thinking she’s being gurnied off the mountain, which is common in skiing. So I started to panic.”
“A mother knows her child,” she said later. “You can hear your child cry across the building, and you know it’s yours.”
Data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) indicates Americans lost $2.6 billion in 2022 to imposter scams and schemes are getting increasingly sophisticated.
FBI spokesperson Siobhan Johnson said families lost around $11,000 on average in similar scams.
In a statement, the FTC said: "A scammer could use AI to clone the voice of your loved one.
"All he needs is a short audio clip of your family member’s voice - which he could get from content posted online - and a voice-cloning program. When the scammer calls you... (it will) sound just like your loved one."