Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, recently discussed a concerning incident involving voice cloning technology during the NDTV World Summit. He revealed that scammers had managed to replicate his voice using artificial intelligence (AI) and contacted one of his executives, demanding a significant money transfer. Fortunately, the executive recognized that Mittal would not make such a request, thereby preventing the scam.
Mittal underscored the importance of vigilance in a time when technology can be misused. He cautioned that fraudsters are likely to advance their tactics, potentially using digital signatures and creating realistic replicas of faces in video calls to facilitate their schemes. He remarked, “We’ll have to protect our societies from the evils of AI, and yet we have to use the goodness of AI,” pointing out the challenges posed by technological advancements. Mittal noted that companies and nations that do not embrace AI risk being left behind.
The increase in sophisticated tactics such as deep fakes and voice cloning has made scams more deceptive. Scammers can create convincing voice replicas from only a few seconds of audio, often taken from social media videos. These cloned voices are used to manipulate victims into transferring money under false pretenses. The growing sophistication of these scams makes it difficult for even tech-savvy individuals to distinguish between authentic and fraudulent communications.
A particularly worrisome trend is the “digital arrest” scam, where fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials through audio or video calls. They intimidate victims and often confine them to their homes to extract payments, highlighting the urgent need for greater awareness and protective measures against the misuse of AI technologies.
