Listen: How criminals are cloning your voice with AI to set up direct debits

Criminals are using artificial intelligence to clone people’s voices and set up unauthorised direct debits over the phone, National Trading Standards (NTS) has warned. Fraudsters begin the process by asking victims to participate in a “lifestyle survey” phone call, which is designed to gather personal, health and financial details. The criminals then use this to create AI-generated voice clones to simulate consent for direct debits, and these recordings are used as “proof” that the victim gave permission for the direct debit to be set up. The scam appeared to be targeting older people, the NTS said. Many victims do not know that they are being scammed, they added, urging people to speak to friends and relatives about scam calls, to check bank statements regularly, and to report anything suspicious.