BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Elizabeth Benz of Buffalo was taking a break Saturday afternoon when she received a call from an unknown number that would turn into every parent's nightmare.
"Immediately, it was my son, sobbing, crying, 'Mom, pick me up! I need you to come and get me,'" Benz said.
On the other end of the line was what seemed to be the terrified voice of her 16-year-old son, Fred.
"He goes, 'Mom, my friend is dead, my friend is dead, he's dead,'" Benz said.
The news sent Benz spiraling. Fred was supposed to be at a local high school football game. Just as she began to process the situation, another voice came on the line.
"He's like, 'There's been an accident. Your son found himself in a situation that he shouldn't have been in,'" Benz said.
Benz was told that Fred had walked in on a drug deal, to stay calm, and not to involve the police.
"I hear him at points in the background crying. It's 100 percent my son's voice," Benz said.
The person on the call told Benz to stay on the line, or her son's life was at risk.
"They said this will be over, this negotiation will be over, we are going to kill your son," Benz said.
With Benz still on the call, she alerted her husband and other sons who were at home to what was happening.
Family members in the background began desperately working to help and quickly called the police. The location app on Fred's phone showed he was at the football game where he was expected to be, but he wasn't answering. Friends at the game communicated to family members they were with him, but Fred's brothers drove to the game to confirm he was there and sent a picture back to Benz's husband.
"It was a huge, huge sigh of relief," said Benz.
Just as the family verified that Fred was OK, the person on the phone demanded $2,500 for Fred's safe return. It became clear that they were trying to scam Benz by using the sound of her son's voice.
"100% AI. I can't think of anything else. It was my son's voice," Benz said.
"The quality of those AI-generated voices is only getting better and better," said Siwei Lyu, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo.
Lyu's research focuses on artificial intelligence and the misuse of Generative AI. He's on a team that works with victims of AI scams, and says bad actors only need a small sample of someone's voice to make it work.
"People typically call them deep fakes. So we are talking about scams made with deep fakes, and voices created by generative AI are becoming more realistic," Lyu said. "Part of my work is on understanding the technologies behind the generation of realistic voices using AI models and how we find technology mitigating them."
Lyu says while counter technologies are developed, families can better protect themselves by understanding these scams exist and by using safe words to verify it's your loved one on the phone — something Benz tells me her family had in place.
"We had just had this conversation 3 weeks ago, and there was nothing that could have prepared me for how this was going to happen," Benz said, "If somebody got a call like this, I would encourage them not to negotiate, or have further conversation, until that person on the phone got the safe word from your child."
In May of 2024, the FBI warned of an increasing threat of cyber criminals utilizing artificial intelligence.
"As technology continues to evolve, so do cybercriminals' tactics. Attackers are leveraging AI to craft highly convincing voice or video messages and emails to enable fraud schemes against individuals and businesses alike,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Tripp
Benz described the scam that impacted her family as "highly sophisticated," and before she knew that Fred was safe, she had agreed to meet the person who had called at the Walmart on Sheridan Drive for his return. Benz says the family called Amherst Police to share those details.
While still shaken by what she describes as a "terrifying" experience, Benz believes it is important to share her story to help others.
"It's so dark, it's so dark to do that to somebody. The best thing I can do is bring it to light," Benz said.
