A mom from Arizona claims that in a $1 million kidnapping scam, con artists cloned her daughter’s voice using artificial intelligence. The mom, Jennifer DeStefano, received a call from an unknown number while her 15-year-old daughter Briana was on vacation skiing.
Ms. DeStefano reported that as soon as she picked up the phone, she could hear her daughter’s voice crying and sobbing, saying, “Mom, these bad guys have me. Help me, please.”
Later, a man’s voice said, “Listen here, I’ve got your daughter. This is how it will proceed. If you call the cops or anyone, I’m going to inject her with so many medications. I’m going to treat her as I want and then drop her off to Mexico.”
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She continued by saying that she could hear her daughter screaming for help in the distance. The kidnapper then asked for $1 million to release the teen. DeStefano responded that she didn’t have that much money, and the kidnapper agreed to release the child for $50,000 instead.
DeStefano continued, saying that she and other mothers were present at her daughter’s dancing studio when she received the call. While the others called DeStefano’s husband, one of them dialed 911. It was determined within minutes that her teenage daughter was secure on her skiing trip. The mother claimed that her daughter’s voice sounded just like hers on the phone.
A police inquiry into the situation has now begun. The con artists have not yet been located or captured.
