Jean was at work looking at the latest financial report when she received a phone call. The call was from an unknown number, but Jean often gets calls from potential clients, so she answered. To her surprise, it was her daughter Kenzie’s voice on the other line. Kensie sounded scared and said she was in trouble. She said she needed a few thousand dollars wired to an account or else she would go to jail. She told her mom she would explain more later. Jean panicked and wanted to make sure her daughter was safe, so she wired the money immediately.
Later she tried to call the number back but there was no answer. She called Kenzie’s normal phone number and Kenzie answered. When Jean asked her what happened, Kenzie was confused. She was never in any trouble and never asked for money. Jean realized it was a scam. Plus, the wallet she transferred the money into turned it to cryptocurrency, so it was not traceable.
Did you spot the red flags?
- Jean should have been more suspicious of a call from an unknown number claiming to be her daughter.
- Jean should have called Kenzie on her regular phone or called someone who would be with her before transferring the money to the unknown account.
- Cryptocurrency, wires, and gift cards are all methods of payment used by scammers. An unsolicited request for one of these forms of payment is a red flag.
What you should know about this scam
Scammers use artificial intelligence to clone voices and use them for scam calls. They can do this from a small sample of a person’s voice on social media or any audio of them online.
Have a family secret word that you all know to verify the legitimacy of these calls. Think about whether the person calling could be in danger or in the location mentioned by the caller.
This scam also occurs in professional settings. Scammers clone the voice of a CEO or high-up executive and call to convince employees to give away their account credentials or transfer money.