ST. LOUIS – Area police are now on alert for thieves using “AI,” or artificial intelligence. A man in Arnold said that thieves mimicked his son’s voice and took $10,000 from his grandfather.
Issues have progressed so far and so quickly that Congress is now taking action.
The voice on the phone said there had been a crash in downtown St. Louis around 11:00 a.m. Wednesday. It sounded like Larry Jenkerson’s son, Jeremy, 23. The voice told Jeremy’s grandfather that he was injured. He had been driving drunk and needed the $10,000 for bail.
“On Market Street, he ran a red light and T-boned another vehicle,” Jenkerson said. “The person that was acting as Jeremy said, ‘I don’t want my dad to know because it’s his car and his insurance. I don’t want him to know. I’ve got to tell him to his face.’”
There was no such crash, but the phone call was made to Jeremy’s grandfather about 120 miles away in Jackson, Missouri, near Cape Girardeau.
Jenkerson rushed home from work when he was notified and found the car undamaged in his driveway. Jeremy was at home, unhurt, getting ready for work.
Jeremy’s grandfather, however, had already given $10,000 to a courier for the supposed bail.
Missouri Republican U.S. Senator Josh Hawley joined Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal on Thursday in proposing a new bill to allow AI victims to sue AI companies for damages. Anybody can use anyone’s voice to say almost anything online.
“I think it is so important that we give normal people, working people, the hammer of being able to get into court and to sue people who use ‘AI’ wrongly, falsely,” Hawley said. “The companies who create AI and use your information without your permission.”
Jenkerson’s case is very similar to two from St. Clair County, Illinois, that FOX 2 reported on in April. Investigators there also suspect the use of AI-manipulated voices.
“I just don’t want this to happen to somebody else,” Jenkerson said. “It keeps on continuing, and it’s getting worse.”
Assistant Jackson Police Chief, Alex Boch, said detectives were pursuing solid leads in the latest case.