CNB offers tips on staying safe from voice cloning scams

DERBY — As several federal agencies are reporting that cases of voice cloning scams are on the rise, Community National Bank is reaching out to the community to offer some tips to stay safe.

Here’s how the scams work. You answer the phone to hear a terrified family member or friend who is in desperate need of money. It’s their voice. They give you instructions telling how much they need and how you need to send it.

Instinctively, you want to act immediately to help, but the caller is not your family member or your friend. The caller is a fraudster hoping to play on your fear and emotions to get you to follow their instructions and send them money.

Scammers are making use of voice cloning and artificial intelligence software to grab quick voice recordings that are used to create messages impersonating family members, friends, and coworkers.

Just a few short spoken words is all that it takes for scammers to get what they need.

How do you avoid becoming a victim of a voice cloning scam?

Look and listen for suspicious details when answering a call. Don’t rely on the incoming phone number. Phone numbers can be faked, too.

The following scenarios are red flags:

There’s an emergency; you’re told to act quickly; you’re asked to send money in any variety of ways; you’re asked for personal banking information; you’re asked to meet up with someone; you’re instructed not to tell anyone about the conversation, especially law enforcement.

If you receive one of these phone calls, try not to panic, hang up and reach out to your family member or friend in your usual way, such as a phone call to their known number, text message, or video call.

Never give out any personal or banking information.

Community National Bank has always had practices in place to identify callers, however, due to voice cloning scams, we may ask a few more questions to ensure your identity before we conduct business with you.

The bank is reminding the public know that the extra measures are only being taken to protect you.

As always, you can always call any office of Community National Bank if you feel you have given up any personal or banking information.

For more information about Community National Bank, visit communitynationalbank.com.