Scammers Use Artificial Intelligence To Fake CEO's Voice In $243K Theft

A group of high-tech scammers used an artificial intelligence program to pull off a $243,000 theft. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the thieves called the managing director of an unidentified British Energy company pretending to be his boss, the CEO of the firm's parent company.

The scammers used the software to imitate the CEO's voice and managed to convince the director to wire the money to a Hungarian bank account, claiming it was meant to pay a supplier. A source who works for the energy firm's insurance company told the Washington Post that the director thought the request was "rather strange" but completed the transfer because he genuinely believed that he was speaking to his boss.

Authorities have not located the people responsible for the theft and are worried that this tactic could be used in the future, especially as voice-replicating software improves and becomes easier to use.

 "This is a technology that would have sounded exotic in the extreme ten years ago, now being well within the range of any lay criminal who's got creativity to spare," Andrew Grotto, a fellow at Stanford University's Cyber Policy Center told the Post.

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