The Osceola County Sheriff's Office in Florida says scammers used AI to clone Sheriff Steve Moser's voice and left a voicemail for a resident. Sheriff Chris Blackmon told News6 that the scammers also used Moser's picture to make the call appear genuine. Impersonating a police officer is a third-degree felony in Florida.
The incident is part of a pattern of scams in which callers claim people have missed jury duty or have warrants, and similar reports have surfaced in Georgia and Pennsylvania in the past week. Those reports do not explicitly mention AI voice cloning, but the scammers sometimes sound similar to local officers.
Voice cloning scams are not new, according to 404 Media. They have been used to target the elderly, families, and businesses. In February, scammers cloned a managing partner of a law firm, and a private bank transferred $108 million as a result. The Osceola County sheriff's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.