Gang dismantled in Greece used AI to clone relatives’ voices to steal money

A criminal organization that used artificial intelligence tools to clone the voices of relatives, in order to make its phone scams more convincing, has been dismantled by Greek authorities.

The gang is suspected of defrauding citizens using various pretexts, posing among other things as employees of the Greek electricity distribution network operator, mobile phone companies and fiber-optic service providers. They would then use voice-cloning technology to create the impression that a relative or another trusted person of the victim was on the phone.

The organization’s activity came to an end after a police operation carried out by the Financial Crimes Unit’s sub-directorate in Nea Ionia, Attica, where two of its members, aged 23 and 25, were arrested.

The two suspects are believed to have acted as “collectors” of money and valuables and were caught immediately after taking items worth around 30,000 euros from an apartment.

The case file for criminal organization, fraud and aggravated theft also includes four other people, three of whom have already been identified. According to police, the gang’s illegal proceeds are estimated to exceed 1 million euros.

How the AI scam worked

The “callers” looked for potential victims and contacted them using various pretexts. They usually convinced victims that they needed to take some action related to the installation of fiber optics or some other alleged technical procedure.

When the victim expressed doubts, the fraudsters urged them to contact a relative or another trusted person, supposedly to confirm the procedure.

They then asked for that person’s phone number and called them, posing as representatives of a telecommunications company or another service provider.

During this short conversation, they recorded a sample of the person’s voice. Using an artificial intelligence tool, they then created a cloned copy of the voice.

The next step was to call the original victim again. This time, through voice-cloning technology, they reproduced the relative’s voice, creating the impression that this person was really on the other end of the phone and confirming what the fraudsters had previously claimed.

In this way, the perpetrators tried to dispel the victims’ doubts and make the scam more convincing.

Greek police stressed that recognizing a familiar voice is no longer, in itself, a reliable way to confirm a caller’s identity, since the voice may have been technically manipulated or reproduced using artificial intelligence.