Officials warn that cloned voices, spoofed numbers and urgent impersonation calls are making it harder to distinguish genuine requests from scams.
New Mexico officials are warning residents that artificial intelligence is making fraud harder to spot, with scammers now using cloned voices, spoofed numbers and impersonation tactics to trick people into handing over money or personal details.
State Treasurer Laura Montoya said one attempt was brazen enough to involve someone trying to imitate her in a live exchange. She said the interaction was recorded and reported to the Department of Justice, underscoring how AI tools are being folded into old-fashioned confidence tricks with unsettling speed.
The threat is not limited to one state. In a public service announcement last year, the FBI said criminals had used AI-generated voice messages to pose as senior US officials in a messaging campaign designed to build trust and pry open personal accounts. The bureau later said the activity continued, warning that the same methods were being used against officials’ family members and personal contacts.
Security experts say voice-cloning software can reproduce a person’s speech from only a brief audio sample, making it difficult for victims to tell genuine calls from fabricated ones. That same technology can be used to mimic bank staff, relatives or government workers, sometimes in real time, and can be paired with caller ID spoofing so that incoming calls appear to come from legitimate numbers.
A separate briefing published this month warned that scammers are now combining AI impersonation with emergency-style pitches, including fake kidnapping or arrested-relative calls meant to force quick payment. Banks and consumer protection specialists say the safest response is to end any suspicious call, contact the institution or agency directly using a verified number, and never share account details, passwords or one-time codes over the phone.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
