A San Francisco Bay Area mother says one terrifying phone call cost her thousands of dollars, after she became a victim of AI voice cloning scam that faked her daughter’s voice.
Deborah Del Mastro, a Navy veteran, recounted the ordeal on ABC’s “Good Morning America” this week. The call came earlier in May from a number she did not recognize. The man on the line claimed he was holding her adult daughter, Sarah, and demanded cash for her safe return.
Then the caller delivered the proof he promised.
“I hear, my daughter’s voice — sobbing, trying to breathe, having a panic attack,” Del Mastro said. “And [the voice] says, ‘I’m so sorry, Mom. I am so scared. I’m so sorry.'”
“My mouth just dropped,” she said.
A wire transfer made under pressure
The AI voice cloning message demanded $5,400 and directed Del Mastro to send the money through several wire locations in Mexico. She followed his instructions because she truly believed her daughter’s life hung in the balance by every minute.
“I was ready to do anything to save my daughter, to protect her … to get her back,” she said.
The moment the truth landed
After the final transfer cleared, Del Mastro called her daughter directly. Sarah answered on the first try. She was at work. She was fine.
That call ended the panic and started a new kind of pain. Criminals had drained her savings using a tool that barely existed a few years ago: a cloned voice built from a short audio sample. Security researchers call it an AI voice cloning scam, and federal agencies say it is climbing fast.
How seconds of audio fuel a fake emergency?
Erin West, founder of Operation Shamrock, told ABC’s KGO that the technology no longer needs a long recording.
“What they can do with just a few seconds of your voice [is] they can clone it, and they can essentially produce sound that sounds exactly like you,” West said.
The trend is “only getting worse, and it will only continue to get worse with the use of AI and deepfake technology,” she added.
Scammers usually pull source audio from public posts. A TikTok clip works. So does a podcast spot, a reel, or a voicemail greeting. Generative audio tools handle the rest in minutes.
The trick lands because it bypasses logic and slams emotion first.
“When we get something that raises our anxiety and requires immediate action, and that immediate action requires the movement of money, we need to know, ‘Red flag, this is a scam,'” West said.
Federal warnings keep stacking up
The FBI issued a fresh alert in December 2025 about virtual kidnapping schemes that now include ai voice cloning and altered visuals. Agents urged families to slow down and verify through a separate channel.
The Federal Trade Commission gives matching advice. Call the loved one back on a known number. Reach a sibling or coworker. Skip wires, gift cards, and crypto, because those payments rarely come back. Many experts also recommend a family code word known only to close relatives.
The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report logged nearly $21 billion in losses tied to cyber-enabled crime. Complaints involving AI-driven fraud reached 22,364 cases and resulted in nearly $893 million in damages.
A veteran’s plea to other families
Martinez police continue to investigate, according to KGO. Del Mastro does not expect to recover her $5,400.
“I am a Navy veteran, and I’m usually very good in a crisis … and I totally, totally believed this guy had my daughter,” she said.
Pause. Hang up. Call back. Confirm before you wire a dollar.
Have you ever received a suspicious emergency call that felt too real? Please share your story in the comments and tell us how families, banks, and platforms should fight back against AI voice cloning scams.