Hiya Report: Rising Threat of AI-Generated Voice Clone Scams Amid Declining Nuisance Calls

The landscape of cybercrime is in flux, with the accessibility of free AI tools like chat GPT allowing scammers to craft convincing messages and impersonate individuals. The recent report by Hiya, a voice security company, underscores this danger, warning of a potential rise in AI-generated voice clone scams in 2024. These scams could use familiar voices to increase the likelihood of their success.

Decreasing Nuisance Calls But Increasing Threats

According to the Hiya report, nuisance calls decreased in Q4 of 2023. Americans experienced one of the lowest rates of fraudulent calls globally during the same period, with only 1% of calls from unknown contacts being identified as fraud. However, this seemingly positive trend does not mean complacency is acceptable. The report stresses the importance of collaboration within the telecom community to maintain consumer confidence in telephony.

Global Spam Call Trends

Globally, there was an increase in spam calls to 7.3 billion, with the holiday season contributing significantly to this rise. In the U.S., consumers received an average of 15 spam calls per month. Carriers successfully blocked most fraudulent calls. Common scams involved areas such as Medicare, insurance, taxes, and payment platforms like Venmo and PayPal.

In Europe, France had the highest spam rate at 47%, with common scams related to energy and solar panels. The UK experienced HMRC tax and Amazon imposter scams, as well as immigration-related fraud. Brazil was plagued by a high volume of spam and fraud calls, primarily banking scams. In the U.S., Oklahoma and Ohio had the highest spam rates, while Alaska had the lowest.

AI-Generated Voice Scams: A Rising Threat

As AI advances, so too does the sophistication of scams. Instances of AI-generated voice scams are being shared on social media platforms, with individuals recounting experiences of being scammed by machine-generated voices.

One incident involved an AI-generated voice scam conducted by the Arlington, Texas-based Life Corporation, which authorities traced to a robocall pretending to be President Joe Biden. The New Hampshire Attorney General has issued a cease-and-desist order and plans to continue investigating potential violations of election law and consumer protection laws.

The evolution of voice scams from tape recordings to AI-powered impersonation tools is a troubling trend. IBM researchers have discovered a way to hijack live audio calls and manipulate what is being said without the speakers knowing. Voice cloning has been used in scams where victims receive calls purporting to be from a friend or relative in trouble and asking for money. The emergence of new use cases that combine different types of generative AI is raising concerns about more sophisticated attacks.

The Hiya report's findings are based on data from the Hiya Voice Security Network, including Samsung Smart Call devices and the Hiya mobile app, with ongoing improvements in nuisance and fraud call detection. As the threat of AI-generated voice clone scams looms, the need for vigilance and collaboration in the realm of telephony security is more critical than ever.