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☆ Conservative activists reach $1 million settlement deal with New York AG for running a 2020 voter suppression campaign
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Devan Cole | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Conservative activists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman have agreed to pay $1 million to the New York attorney general’s office and others for running a voter suppression campaign targeting Black voters during the 2020 election. If the pair “fail to pay at least $105,000 by December 31, 2024, and do not address the failure to pay within 30 days, the amount will increase to $1.25 million,” James’ office said. “Wohl and Burkman orchestrated a depraved and disinformation-ridden campaign to intimidate Black voters in an attempt to sway the election in favor of their preferred candidate,” James said in a statement. In 2022, an Ohio judge ordered the two men to spend 500 hours registering low- and middle-income voters in the Washington, DC, area after authorities in Ohio accused them of running a voter suppression campaign in multiple states. Other criminal charges against Wohl and Burkman are pending in Michigan.

Persons: Jacob Wohl, Jack Burkman, Letitia James, James ’, ” James ’, “, Burkman, ” James, ”, David Schwartz, robocalls “, Wohl Organizations: CNN — Conservative, New, Black, ”, Wohl, National Coalition, “, Federal Communications Commission Locations: New York, Ohio, Washington, DC, Michigan

“We come from a place where gun violence is a problem, but you will never see a 19-year-old with an AR-15 getting into a school and shooting people,” Manuel Oliver said. “There’s a reason for the gun violence in a Third World country. Joaquin's AI voice identifies him and then says, “Many students and teachers were murdered on Valentine’s Day ... by a person using an AR-15, but you don’t care. Other families who lost loved ones to gun violence will be allowed to add their victim's re-created voice to the project, which runs indefinitely. They call themselves “the rebel side of the gun violence prevention movement."

Persons: — Joaquin “ Guac ” Oliver, Oliver, Manuel, Patricia Oliver, Joaquin's, ” Manuel Oliver, “, Stoneman Douglas, ” Patricia Oliver, It’s, Joaquin, Critics, ”, “ Joaquin, Uziyah Garcia, Ethan Song, Brett Cross, “ I’m, Uzi, hadn't, Mike, Kristin Song, ” Kristin Song, —, ’, Manuel Oliver's, Joe Biden Organizations: National Rifle Association, Immigrants, NRA, Valentine’s, YouTube, Waffle House, Robb Elementary School Locations: Fla, Parkland , Florida, Venezuela, United States, Parkland, Tennessee, , Texas, Uvalde , Texas, Connecticut, Virginia

☆ FCC votes to outlaw scam robocalls that use AI-generated voices
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The unanimous FCC vote extends anti-robocall rules to cover unsolicited AI deepfake calls by recognizing those voices as “artificial” under a federal law governing telemarketing and robocalling. The FCC’s move gives state attorneys general more legal tools to pursue illegal robocallers that use AI-generated voices to fool Americans, the FCC said. “Bad actors are using AI-generated voices in unsolicited robocalls to extort vulnerable family members, imitate celebrities, and misinform voters,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement. In 2021, the FCC announced a $5 million proposed fine against right-wing operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman for allegedly using illegal robocalls to discourage voting in the 2020 election. As the FCC updates its interpretation of federal law, some US lawmakers have proposed revising the law directly to further deter illegal robocallers.

Persons: “, ”, Jessica Rosenworcel, “ We’re, Joe Biden, robocalls, Jacob Wohl, Jack Burkman, Andrew Schwartzman Organizations: Washington CNN, Federal Communications Commission, FCC, Protection, New, Authorities, YouMail, House Democrats, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, ” Locations: New Hampshire, Texas

☆ Biden's AI chief says 'voice cloning' is what keeps him up at night
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

He said that "voice cloning" is the one thing that keeps him up at night, Politico reported. "Voice cloning is one thing that keeps me up at night," White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed told Politico. Phone scammers, for example, have already been exploiting advancements in voice cloning technology to make their schemes more believable. In April, one mother in Arizona received a call from a scammer who had used voice cloning software to pretend he had kidnapped her daughter. While we see our tech being overwhelmingly applied to positive use, we also see an increasing number of voice cloning misuse cases.

Persons: Bruce Reed, —, Staff Bruce Reed, Reed, who's, it's, McAfee, Eric Adams, he's, Adams, ElevenLabs, Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, Emma Watson Organizations: Politico, Service, House, Staff, Biden, FTC, New York City, Beta, 4chan Locations: Arizona, New York

☆ We can use AI to fight predatory robocalls, experts tell senators
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — Senators took a bipartisan stance against abusive robocalling on Tuesday, appealing to experts for enforcement measures as more scammers employ deceptive artificial intelligence. Witnesses told the Senate Commerce's Subcommittee on Communications, Media and Broadband that generative AI can also work in regulators' favor. Mike Rudolph, chief technology officer for robocall-blocking firm YouMail, Inc., said the AI could flag insufficient mitigation controls in the Federal Communications Commission's Robocall Mitigation Database. "That's a great place where you could apply that [AI] technology and probably discard half the entries in the database in an afternoon or a week of work," Rudolph said. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., chair of the subcommittee, said robocalls have eroded the public's trust in the nation's communications networks.

Persons: robocalling, Mike Rudolph, Rudolph, Sen, Ben Ray Luján, Chuck Schumer Organizations: WASHINGTON, Senate, Communications, Media, Inc, Federal Communications, Capitol

☆ Robocalling is already an issue for Americans. AI is making it worse
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Rachel Curry | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Yet, the nearly $300 million fine against a massive transnational robocalling operation by the Federal Communications Commission shows just how widespread this issue has become. This is called an interactive voice response (IVR) and it's used in a type of spam called voice phishing or "vishing." According to McAfee's CTO Steve Grobman, these types of calls are bound to remain less likely than other, more obvious spam calls, at least for the time being. Spotting AI scamsThat preparation depends on a combination of consumer education and the war between technologies, or more specifically, white-hat AI fighting black-hat AI. Educating people about deepfake audio spam calls

Persons: —, Jonathan Nelson, Nelson, McAfee, it's, Steve Grobman, Grobman, Kristofor Healey, Healey Organizations: Getty, Federal Communications Commission, Hiya Inc, Companies, McAfee, Department of Homeland Security, Black Bear Security

☆ How 'consent farms' turn one click on a website into an open invitation for spammers to blow up your phone with robocalls
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Spam phone calls have been annoying Americans for decades. Most people are on the Do Not Call list, but "consent farms" claim they sell a way around it. Farming consent from unwitting consumersKelly Pinn gets a lot of spam phone calls. Consent farms run rampantThe FTC and other regulators call websites like HealthInstantly.org "consent farms." On one side are affiliate marketers, who get paid to steer traffic to the farms' websites.

Persons: —, you've, Kelly Pinn, she's, Pinn, Ethan Preston, Chad Smanjak, ActiveProspect, Preston, He's, Smanjak, winky, Rob Seaver, Josh Gillon, Giulia Porter Organizations: Service, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, telemarketers, ActiveProspect Inc, LinkedIn, FTC, Smanjak, FCC, Urth, PACE Association, Viceroy Media Solutions, Flatiron Media, C4R Media Locations: Wall, Silicon, Austin, Orange County, Washington, Panama

☆ The FCC just fined an international network of robocallers nearly $300 million for making 5 billion calls in a three month span
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The FCC just fined a group of scammers a record-breaking $299,970,000. The commission said the fraudsters made 5 billion auto warranty-related scam calls in three months. Two of the men charged, Roy M. Cox and Aaron Michael Jones, had already previously been banned from making telemarketing calls. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. Additionally, Insider reported that the prevalence of COVID-related phone scams have risen in 2023, three years after the virus shut down the country.

Persons: Roy M, Cox, Aaron Michael Jones, Jones Organizations: FCC, Service, Federal Communications Commission, State of, Federal Trade Commission, Medicare, Medicaid Services Locations: Wall, Silicon, State, State of Texas

☆ Pelosi campaign pays Illinois man $7,500 after he sued over 'invasive and harassing' fundraising texts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An Illinois man sued Nancy Pelosi's campaign for more than $31,500 over unwanted fundraising texts. And according to federal campaign finance disclosures made public on Friday, the dismissal came after Rojas received a $7,500 payment marked "Settlement" from Pelosi's congressional campaign. Rojas and Pelosi's campaign did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. A fundraising text that Rojas received from Pelosi, according to the lawsuit. Screenshot/Rojas v. Nancy Pelosi for Congress et alA full copy of the lawsuit can be found below:

☆ A new wave of robocallers are trying to scam crypto users — here's how the scam works and how to stop it
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Robocallers are beginning to target cryptocurrency investors, spoofing calls from Coinbase. These scams are particularly risky for crypto investors, as reclaiming lost assets is difficult. Doug Shadel, the managing director of Fraud Prevention Strategies who works alongside Nomorobo, told Insider he's noticed several different types of scams from robocallers trying to bilk crypto investors. He said cryptocurrency scams have often become like a new-age version of gift card scams. Staying secureInsider spoke to representatives from both hardware wallet Ledger and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase whose users were targeted by robocallers.

☆ Robocallers are preying on the elderly with fake Medicare calls. It's a no-brainer to stop it, but nobody has.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

These honeypots comprise only a sliver of the total number of US phone numbers but provide valuable insights into how robocalling scams operate. Every day, the honeypot numbers get inundated with calls from scammers purporting to be from Medicare. Many of those calls spoof the services' "1-800-MEDICARE" (1-800-633-4227) hotline in the phone's caller ID. "Many seniors are targeted by scammers who want to steal their Medicare numbers to do things like rack up fake health care charges and commit identify theft," the representative said. With this in mind, it's unclear why the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services use the phone line for both outbound and inbound calls.

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