A routine part of your digital life could be providing criminals with the exact tool they need to scam your loved ones. Cybersecurity experts are issuing a new warning that personalized voicemail greetings are a primary source for voice-cloning software used in sophisticated artificial intelligence scams.
With just a few seconds of your recorded voice, scammers can create a realistic digital replica, or 'deepfake', to impersonate you in phone calls. These imposter scams often target family members with urgent, fabricated emergencies designed to trick them into sending money.
Key Takeaways
- Scammers need only a few seconds of audio to create a convincing AI clone of your voice.
- Personalized voicemail greetings are a primary and easily accessible source for this audio.
- The most common tactic is an imposter scam, where criminals pretend to be a loved one in distress to solicit money.
- Experts strongly recommend switching to a generic, robotic voicemail greeting to reduce this risk.
The Evolution of Imposter Scams
Imposter scams are not a new phenomenon. For years, criminals have pretended to be representatives from government agencies, banks, or tech support companies. However, the widespread availability of AI voice-cloning technology has made these schemes far more personal and difficult to detect.
Previously, a scammer's success was often limited by their ability to sound convincing. Now, AI can mask accents and generate fluent speech in any voice it has a sample of. This allows criminals from anywhere in the world to sound exactly like your friend, child, or parent.
"What’s happening in a lot of these cases is that it’s actually someone in another country who has a strong accent or other issue, and they’re using these AI tools to get beyond that," explains Brian Long, CEO of the cybersecurity firm Adaptive Security.
The emotional impact of hearing a familiar voice in distress can override a person's natural skepticism, making these scams particularly effective. The plea for help sounds genuine because the voice is one they know and trust.
How Your Voice Becomes a Weapon
Many people unknowingly provide high-quality audio samples of their voice to the public every day. The most common and easily harvested source is the outgoing message on a personal voicemail.
A Critical Vulnerability: According to cybersecurity professionals, a standard voicemail greeting provides more than enough audio data for current AI tools to generate a convincing deepfake of your voice.
"Your voicemail greeting is the only thing an attacker needs to make a deep fake of your voice," Long states. When a scammer calls a target, they don't need the person to answer. By letting the call go to voicemail, they can capture a clean recording of the person's voice saying their name and a few other words.
This is a low-effort, high-reward method for criminals to build a library of voices to use in their operations.
Social Media Amplifies the Risk
Voicemail is not the only source of concern. The trend of sharing videos on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook creates another vast repository of voice data. Videos of family events, personal vlogs, or even short clips of children speaking can be downloaded and the audio extracted by malicious actors.
Protecting children is a particular concern, as their voices can be used in scams targeting grandparents, who may be more susceptible to emotional pleas for help.
Actionable Steps to Protect Your Voice
While the technology is sophisticated, the primary defense against this type of voice harvesting is surprisingly simple. The key is to limit public access to clear recordings of your voice.
According to security experts, the single most effective step is to change your voicemail greeting.
"If the voice mail greeting today is your voice, delete that voice mail greeting and go with the default robot voice," Long advises.
This removes the easy opportunity for scammers to collect your voiceprint. Here are the recommended steps:
- Disable Your Custom Voicemail Greeting: Access your phone's voicemail settings and select the option for a default, system-generated message. This generic, robotic voice cannot be used to clone your own.
- Review Your Social Media Presence: Be mindful of the videos you post publicly. Consider making your accounts private or being more selective about posting content that features clear audio of you or your family members speaking.
- Educate Your Family: Talk to your relatives, especially older ones, about this type of scam. Establish a code word or a specific question that only family members would know the answer to. If they receive a frantic call, they can use this code word to verify the person's identity.
- Be Skeptical of Urgent Requests: If you receive a call from a loved one asking for money in an emergency, hang up and call them back on their known phone number. Do not use the number that called you. This helps confirm you are speaking to the actual person.
Why This Matters Now
The rise of generative AI has lowered the barrier to entry for creating convincing deepfakes. What once required significant technical skill and computing power can now be done with readily available online tools. This democratization of technology means that more criminals are incorporating these tactics into their schemes, increasing the threat to the general public.
As technology continues to advance, maintaining digital hygiene is more important than ever. By taking small, proactive steps like changing a voicemail message, you can significantly reduce your vulnerability to this growing form of digital fraud and protect the people you care about most.