Lukas Keraitis, Tele2‘s Innovation Expert, tested the new voice synthesis technology and shares tips on how to recognize a fake voice if you get a call from a scammer.
Checked the vigilance of relatives
Voice synthesis is a new but widely used technology. By training an artificial intelligence model with recordings of a specific human voice, it is possible to create a program that can imitate that voice and speak any given words. L. Keraitis was one of the first in Lithuania to perform with a voice synthesis program an experiment – a test for friends and family.
“I pre-generated a few sentences of my voice saying “I’m in trouble, can you wire me money?“. Then I started calling my relatives from an unknown number and played these recordings. I introduced myself and began to ask for an urgent transfer of money to the account that I would send. Most of my friends laughed or hung up, but a few wrote to me with concern,” says L. Keraitis.
The deception of the innovation expert was not immediately recognized by the closest people. One of the things that gave him away was his tone of voice, which did not match the urgency of the situation. But her friends and parents noticed her after the first few sentences. According to L. Keraitis, the voice technology still has its shortcomings, but it is very convincing.
“Both father and mother seem to have realized that it was not me who was calling. After the experiment, I hurriedly called them back from my number so as not to worry too much. This is how I tested a possible fraud scheme, which, unfortunately, we will probably hear about in our country in the future. Although until now we have not heard of fraudsters using voice synthesis technology in Lithuania, it is already very popular in the USA”, says the Innovation expert of Tele2.
So far, voice synthesis has been widely applied to English, Spanish and other popular languages, he said. However, there is still no tool available for everyone in the country that reproduces a specific voice in the Lithuanian language. In Lithuania, only a few news portals use a synthesized voice to read articles, helping people with visual impairments.
Voice synthesis technology is used in the world in the film industry, where it helps to voice the voices of characters, giving them uniqueness. The technology is also central to smart assistants like Siri and Alexa, which allow people to perform everyday tasks with their voice. In the education sector, it is used to create interactive learning tools, and in the accessibility field, it is used for text-to-speech tools to help people with visual impairments.
The most popular scam scenario
In the English-speaking part of the world, speech synthesis technology is already being used for deception. According to L. Keraitis, the most commonly used scenario looks like this: a threatening stranger calls a father or grandfather and informs them that their daughter or grandchild has been in an accident, or, for example, hit the dog of an important politician while drunk driving.
“The phone is then allegedly handed over to the grandson, whose voice-generated recording says, ‘Grandpa, I’m in trouble, help me.’ Only one sentence can be generated by voice synthesis, and the rest are the scammers’ own words. The caller picks up the phone again and suggests that everything can be resolved quietly and calmly, but that action must be taken quickly. It is then insisted that the money be transferred to a suspicious account, but there are cases when an accomplice of the fraudsters comes to collect the cash. Sometimes in this way, a lifetime’s savings are lost in a few moments”, warns L. Keraitis.
How to protect yourself?
According to the expert, it would be worth getting familiar with this scenario for Lithuanians as well. To protect yourself from scammers, it is important to be vigilant and follow a few recommendations.
“Firstly, if you receive a call from a loved one whose voice sounds suspicious but familiar, avoid making hasty decisions – scammers like to rush you into making poorer decisions. Be sure to confirm the information directly with the person before taking action. Call back your loved one’s regular number, as scammers may use similar numbers to confuse you. Talk to the people around you, ask their opinion about the situation,” the representative of “Tele2” shares his thoughts.
According to L. Keraitis, it is worth paying attention to the tone of voice and speech style. Although an artificial voice may sound similar, it may lack the usual emotionality, naturalness, and the generated voice may also be jerky. It is important to discuss the possible method of cheating with loved ones and never act hastily.
“Although the trick I demonstrated still seems exotic to many, especially cheaters who are not always skilled enough to use it, it is better to be aware of such dangers in advance. “Later on, carelessness can lead to painful regrets,” says L. Keraitis.
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