THAILAND’S Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra almost fell victim to a phone scam using AI to impersonate a foreign leader’s voice, she said Wednesday.
The PM, the youngest daughter of telecoms billionaire and ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said she received a message in a voice sounding identical to a well-known leader, without identifying the person.
“In the clip, he said he was looking forward to seeing me and working together,” she said.
She missed a call from the same number during the night, before a second voice message the next day aroused her suspicions.
“The voice said Thailand is the only ASEAN country which has not yet made a donation — when I heard that, I thought ‘this is not right’,” she said.
A text message asking for money to be sent to a bank account outside Thailand soon followed, confirming her doubts.
“I knew it for sure when I saw that,” she said. Paetongtarn did not say when she received the messages. So-called “call centre scams” are common in Thailand, in which fraudsters impersonate police, government officials or bank staff — often using automated “robocalls’ to make the first contact.
AFP
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