Kastoria Woman Locks Scammer in Room After AI Voice Call
by Bill Giannopoulos · Greek City TimesAn elderly woman in Kastoria foiled an AI phone scam by locking a fake insurance agent in a room with her husband, after a voice mimicking her daughter told her to hand over everything.
The attempted AI phone scam took place at midday on Thursday, 12 November, in Asproklisia, a village in the Argos Orestiko municipality in northern Greece. Despite the ordeal, the couple lost no money or valuables.
Earlier that day, their real daughter had called the couple’s landline to say work would keep her from visiting.
About half an hour later, the woman was having coffee at her sister’s home when the landline rang there. She answered and heard a voice that sounded just like her daughter’s.
Read more: Phone Scammers Target Children and the Elderly
Informed sources believe the callers created or copied that voice with artificial intelligence. It told her a friend called Dimitris would come “to insure the jewellery, the house and the electrical appliances”, and asked her to go home.
How the AI phone scam unfolded
Soon after she returned home, the next stage of the AI phone scam began when a stranger arrived at the door. He introduced himself as Dimitris and said he was her daughter’s friend and an insurance agent.
At first, he said he had come to insure the home’s electrical appliances. However, he then turned to the gold jewellery and cash in the house, asking how many €50, €100 and other banknotes the couple kept.
He also told them a drone was flying over the house to film it for the insurance process.
Throughout the visit, the man held a device in plain view that allegedly streamed live video from inside the home to his accomplices, the couple said. They described him as cold and unsmiling.
At the same time, the callers rang the couple’s own landline, again using the daughter’s voice. It told the woman to show Dimitris the valuables because he “has to take them to insure them”.
Shouted demand raises the alarm
The woman grew suspicious when the man went into a room with her husband to count the money. At that point, the voice on the phone kept shouting: “Mum, give it all! Give it all! Give it all!”
She knew her real daughter as a calm person who would never shout or make such demands. At once, she realised it was an AI phone scam.
So she locked her husband in the room with the stranger to stop him leaving and to buy time. The callers, apparently watching the live feed, then pressed her: “Why did you close the door? Why did you lock the room?”
Using another phone, she reached her sister and asked her to alert police. Still, the calls kept coming, and both the callers and the man inside kept up the pressure.
Finally, fearing for her husband’s safety, she opened the door, and the man left the house empty-handed. The AI phone scam had failed.
In September, police broke up a gang that used cloned voices in scams worth about €1 million.
To avoid an AI phone scam, hang up on any suspicious call and ring the relative on a known number. Older people should never hand cash, gold or valuables to strangers at the door, whatever role they claim.
Victims can also report phone and online fraud to the Hellenic Police Cyber Crime Division.
Source: ERT News
Stay connected to Greek City Times for Free on Google News
Click NOW
Stay updated with the latest news from Greece and around the world on greekcitytimes.com.
Contact our newsroom to share your updates, stories, photos, or videos. Follow GCT on WhatsApp, Google News and Apple News.
Related coverage
- Police Arrest Six Over Fake DEDDIE Worker Scam
- Internet Café Players Never Stood a Chance, Police Say
- 88-Year-Old Hides in Her Bedroom as Her Gold Vanishes
- Early Snowfall Hits Northern Greece as Temperatures Plunge
Advertising