MIDLAND, Texas — Phone scams have been around for a long time, but the FBI is seeing an increase in a scam that involves advanced voice cloning technology.
"It's a very sophisticated program its used medically, for people that have throat cancer or ALS, they've lost their voice," said Special agent Raul Hernandez of with the FBI. "Hollywood uses it is as well to change the voices of actors, it/s a very expense program but some of the nefarious groups have the money so they'll go out there and pay for it."
Voice cloning scammers use tech to mimic your voice or a loved one's pretending to be kidnapped or in trouble to scam you out of money.
If you get a call like this, first try contacting the person that is supposedly in danger and If you can't get ahold of them and do believe your loved one is in danger then call 911.
"Use another phone to reach out to whoever the victim is," Special Agent Hernandez said. "In this case, if they say they have Billy-Bob held hostage, maybe use another phone to try and reach out to him and if he answers the phone, boom its a scam."
While social media can be a place to show our personal lives, scammers are able to use that information in their favor.
"My rule of thumb that I tell everyone in the community is be careful of what you post on social media, sometimes we get carried away and were posting way too much," Special Agent Hernandez said.
Although Scammers can be from anywhere, most in our area are from Mexico.
"Because of the proximity to the border, these criminals down in Mexico are taking advantage of the people that live here because they use that fear factor, because they know the cartel is here so they'll use that and then you add the cloning of the voices so now it gets really really difficult for these loved ones," Special Agent Hernandez said.
These scams are crimes and the FBI and other law enforcement are doing what they can to get these people behind bars.
"This is a clear message to those individuals who think its a good way to make a quick dollar, that we are actively working to arrest them and find them," Special Agent Hernandez said.
If you have been scammed and want to report it to the FBI visit this website.