AI-enabled voice fraud has come into the spotlight in the aftermath of a $243k hack that impersonated a chief executive from the German parent company of a UK-based energy firm, as originally reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Rüdiger Kirsch, a fraud expert at insurer Euler Hermes, which covered the victim company’s claim, tells the Journal that the insurance company has never previously dealt with claims stemming from losses due to AI-related crimes. He says the police investigation into the affair is over and indicates that hackers used commercial voice-generating software to carry out the attack.
Certainly, law enforcement authorities and AI experts are aware of voice technology’s burgeoning capabilities, and the high likelihood that AI is poised to be the new frontier for fraud. Last year, Pindrop, a company that creates security software and protocols for call centers, reported a 350% rise in voice fraud between 2013 and 2017, primarily to credit unions, banks, insurers, brokerages, and card issuers.