San Francisco Woman Loses $5,400 to AI Voice-Cloning Kidnapping Scam Mimicking Her Daughter

Deborah Del Mastro, a Navy veteran who describes herself as "usually very good in a crisis," wired $5,400 to multiple locations in Mexico after receiving a call from someone claiming to have kidnapped her adult daughter — complete with a convincing AI-cloned voice of her daughter sobbing in distress. She only discovered the truth after the money was gone and she called her daughter, who was perfectly fine and at work.

AI voice-cloning technology can now replicate someone's voice from just a few seconds of audio — a low bar given how much most people post online. Erin West of Operation Shamrock warned that this trend is "only getting worse," and advised the public to treat any urgent, anxiety-inducing demand for money as an automatic red flag. Del Mastro is now speaking out to warn others.