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Criminals are constantly looking for new opportunities to prey on people for financial gain, and the holidays are traditionally a time when people are preoccupied and could fall victim to a scam, said the Suffolk County Police.
Scammers are also increasingly turning to artificial intelligence “spoofing” tools to clone the voices of individuals who post on social media, police said.
"Scammers use those cloned voices to create a script to call a family member of the person whose voice was cloned in hopes of convincing an unsuspecting victim to send money," they added.
An 85-year-old Hauppauge man received a call from an individual utilizing artificial intelligence voice change who claimed to be his granddaughter and stated she was arrested and needed $19,000 in bail money, the department said.
Her grandfather met an individual two separate times on Thursday, Nov. 9, and turned over the requested cash, police said.
During another recent scam, a 70-year-old Smithtown woman spoke to an individual purporting to be an Amazon representative, claiming someone was attempting to use her bank account to buy electronics.
Police said the woman was told since her bank account was compromised, she should turn over her cash to keep it safe. The victim made three separate withdrawals totaling more than $100,000, and the cash was then picked up by the same man on three different dates.
Following the withdrawals, the victim was advised to purchase gold coins at a pawn shop with a personal check of $94,000. After doing so, she sent a photo of the receipt to the suspect, who would then pick up the coins when ready, police said.
While these cases both remain under investigation, it is a reminder of how convincing scammers can be.
To help, Financial Crime Unit detectives are providing free scam prevention presentations to community groups and senior centers in an effort to educate the public.
Additionally, the department has created safety tip flyers in multiple languages to ensure the message is being received by all residents.
If you are interested in a prevention seminar or obtaining safety tips, contact the department’s Financial Crimes Unit at 631-852-6821.
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