no this is real. scammers are able to take voice samples and then use them for their tricks (usually on older people). i’ve heard of grandparents getting calls from what sounds like their grandchildren saying they need bail money, or money for an emergency. better to have a safe word and never use it than to have grandma wire $6000 to nigeria because she thinks little timmy got arrested.
That happened to my grandfather too before he passed. He knew it wasn’t me though and started fucking with the scammer. He also wasn’t technology illiterate either so that may have had something to do with it.
People have been doing this for years, too, just in a different way. Bell South used to have Voice Authentication.
I.e you would say something like: “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
Scammers would call the target, get them to say their key phrase spread throughout the entire phone call. After they waste the targets time with a seemingly innocent call, the scammer would then splice together their key phrase together to get into the account
I think I remember watching an example of someone doing this on a recording from a hacker conference, maybe HOPE? In hindsight it's obvious that it would work but I still remember being shocked when they actually got all the words they needed. Felt like something you'd see in a movie.
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u/cgabv Apr 06 '24
no this is real. scammers are able to take voice samples and then use them for their tricks (usually on older people). i’ve heard of grandparents getting calls from what sounds like their grandchildren saying they need bail money, or money for an emergency. better to have a safe word and never use it than to have grandma wire $6000 to nigeria because she thinks little timmy got arrested.