Whom AI Clones and Destroys
FBI Warns of Generative AI attacks
CHATTANOOGA, TN – In January of 1969, episode 14 of the original Star Trek series called “Whom Gods Destroy,” the crew of the enterprise faced a bad guy that used some unheard-of technology to appear as Captain Kirk. The logic of Mr. Spock would eventually win the day, but Captain Kirk had the crew remember a safe question to know the difference between the Captain and the bad guy. Before transporting off the ship, Captain Kirk tells Mr. Scott to remember the answer to the safe phrase of “King to Queen’s Level 3.” It was a chess move, and only Mr. Scott knew the answer.
If you’re anything like me, you get numerous calls a day, a week, a month and sometimes there’s no one there. Sometimes it’s an automated voice saying, “please state your name for the record.” I can’t tell you enough, DO NOT RESPOND to these. According to the FBI, these are considered Generative AI attacks. What this means is, they are using your voice and in some cases your likeness to scam you and your loved ones. They are calling and texting your loved ones and using AI to generate images of you, your likeness and asking for sensitive information in your voice. It will appear as you, and it is clearly not you.
According to a recent article in Forbes, the FBI suggests you make a safe question for you and your family just like Captain Kirk did. Come up with something only they would know. Ask your spouse where your first date was, ask your parents what kind of car they drove in high school. Ask something that only they would know and couldn’t be found on social media. If someone close to you calls you in a panic, stop and think. Are they really locked out of the house? Must they have this information right now? If it’s unexpected, there’s a reason. If it seems really odd for your bank to be calling you asking questions, hang up. Under no circumstances, should you give out any pertinent information if it seems the least bit odd.
Hackers and scammers do not care. They want money in any way possible from you or anyone else they can get it from. Soon they’ll be calling and pretending to be the IRS with a onetime offer to buy your way out of jail. None of which is true, but they prey on folks just like you and me hoping that you don’t have the knowledge of Captain Kirk or the logic of Mr. Spock on your side. They call hoping to catch you off guard, incite panic, and get you to surrender your information.
