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Man claims hacker used AI to clone his voice, steal money
Gary Cunningham is a businessman in Houston who says criminals wired themselves $20,000 of his money by impersonating him to his accountant.
HOUSTON - Gary Cunningham is a businessman in Houston who says criminals wired themselves $20,000 of his money by impersonating him to his accountant.
Cunningham says in November a standard wire transfer was scheduled to disperse earnings from one account to another. He says this transfer happens every month and is usually around $20,000.
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But this time, he says his accountant got a call from who she thought was Cunningham. His voice over the phone, telling her to transfer the money to a new bank.
Several emails followed from Cunningham's account with wire instructions for the accountant. Cunningham says none of this was him.
"It was transferred on the 5th - on the 5th, I was on a plane to Chicago," he said. "I check monthly to make sure the money came in, and I checked, and the money was not in."
He says he called his accountant who informed him the money was sent to a new bank, one he had never heard of. He says she told him the voice on the other line sounded exactly like him.
"She said it had the same inflections, I knew it was you. I was talking to you," he said.
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After several meetings with his bank, IT team and lawyer, Cunningham determined his email had been hacked and his voice cloned. He made a report with West University Police, who say they're investigating the incident as fraud.
"I felt that I'd been taken advantage of, I felt violated. My accountant felt violated," said Cunningham.
Dr. Patrick Dicks, Artificial Intelligence & Automation Expert, says cases like these are becoming more and more common.
"Criminals are using AI every day, and they're getting more sophisticated with it," he said.
He says criminals can record your voice over the phone, off social media, or even in person to clone it.
"Someone can stand next to you, record your voice, and you have no knowledge of it," he said. "They can take that little bit of voice data you put in - they take it and run with it. It'll sound like you or someone else."
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Cunningham says he's not sure if he'll ever get the money back, but he wants his story to spread awareness of how criminals are using this technology.
"I think that's my job now - to relay this more than it is to get my money," he said.
He said he's changed all of his passwords and email addresses and has hired a password management company to keep track and change his security screens. He encourages others to do the same.