Clone Con Anecdotal accounts were already abound of people losing money to scammers cloning the voices of their relatives. Now, it’s apparently become enough of a prevalent — and serious — issue that federal regulators feel the need to step in. On Monday, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a consumer alert on emerging voice cloning scams, warning people that their desperate friend or relative on the other end of the phone asking for money may actually be an AI simulacrum of their voice wielded by a scammer. “All [a scammer] needs is a short audio clip of your family member’s voice — which he could get from content posted online — and a voice-cloning program,” the FTC wrote. “When the scammer calls you, he’ll sound just like your loved one.” Grandma Grifter On Futurism, we’ve talked about how these voice cloning scams have recently targeted senior citizens. In one case, the ostensible voice of a grandkid asked their grandma for bail money. In another scam, a caller claimed to be a lawyer representing an elderly couple’s son, who then allowed the son to “speak” to the parents, asking them to send BitCoin to cover legal fees. As you might’ve guessed, both proved to be nothing more than nefarious voice cloning. Geriatrics in Canada appear to be a particularly vulnerable demographic, with CBC news reporting that at least eight senior citizens were targeted by these voice cloning scams in just a three day window, making away with a total…FTC Warns That Scammers Are Cloning Your Relatives' Voice To Steal Your Money