Generative artificial intelligence systems are already making it easier for scammers to con elderly Americans out of their money, and several senators are asking the Biden administration to step in and protect people from this quickly emerging threat.
Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., the top Republican on the Senate Special Committee on Aging, spearheaded a bipartisan letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday that asks for an update on what the agency knows about AI-drive scams against the elderly and what it is doing to protect people. The letter, signed by every member of the Senate committee from both parties, asks about AI-powered technology that can be used to replicate people’s voices.
The letter to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan warned that voice clones and chatbots are allowing scammers to trick the elderly into making them believe they are talking to a relative or close friend, which leaves them vulnerable to theft.
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Sen. Mike Braun, a Republican from Indiana, led a letter that asks the FTC to take steps to protect the elderly from AI-generated scams. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“In one case, a scammer used this approach to convince an older couple that the scammer was their grandson in desperate need of money to make bail, and the couple almost lost $9,400 before a bank official alerted them to the potential fraud,” the Senate letter said. “Similarly, in Arizona, a scammer posing as a kidnapper used voice-cloning technology to duplicate the sounds of a mother’s crying daughter and demand ransom.”
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Braun said “imposter” scams lead to about $2.6 billion in losses every year, and he said the elderly are particularly at risk now that scammers have access to voice-clone technology.
“We’re getting calls into our constituent services line back in Indiana already where this is coming in and happening to some extent,” Braun said. He added that imposter scams can be done without using a fake voice but warned that “AI makes it even easier because it’s like talking to your grandkid.”
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Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, received the letter from every senator on the Senate Special Committee on Aging. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
