“Mom?” echoed my daughter’s voice through the phone. “I’ve made a mistake.” The realization hit me like a ton of bricks, causing my heart to sink and my body to tremble. I could hear a man instructing her to lie down and tilt her head back. Briana, my 15-year-old daughter, was miles away at a skiing competition with my husband, and my immediate fear was that she had been seriously injured. Meanwhile, I was in the car, picking up her 13-year-old sister, Aubrey, from her dance class in Arizona.
On the phone, I could hear Briana crying and screaming for help. Panic coursed through my veins as the man on the other end explained that he had taken my daughter captive. He threatened to drug her, abandon her in Mexico, and ensure that I never saw her again if I told anyone about the situation. Desperate and terrified, I rushed into the lobby of the building where Aubrey was having her dance class. I placed the phone on mute and pleaded for assistance from other parents. The man on the phone continued to shout threats, intensifying the urgency. A few mothers immediately dialed 911. Aubrey, coming out of her class, was thrown into a state of panic upon witnessing the commotion. I begged Aubrey to contact the rest of our family, but fear had rendered her paralyzed. The fear in her face as she tried to process that her sister had been taken will forever haunt me.
The man on the phone continued his demands, stating that I needed to pay $1 million to secure Briana’s release. Knowing I didn’t have that kind of money, I reluctantly agreed to give him $50,000. He ordered me to wait for him in a white van, where he would blindfold me before taking me to an unknown location. If I failed to bring the cash, he vowed to leave both Briana and me dead in Mexico. In that moment, I didn’t question the authenticity of the situation. Every instinct within me screamed to do whatever it took to save my child’s life.
One of the mothers who had been calling 911 burst into view, her voice seeming distorted and slow to my panicked brain. She informed me that it was an AI scam, a type of scam the police had been encountering more frequently. However, I couldn’t accept that reality. My baby was out there, and someone needed to rescue her immediately. It had been her voice on the phone; I couldn’t have mistaken it. Another mother then relayed that she had managed to reach my husband, who had found Briana safe and sound at the ski resort. Briana had been skiing and had no idea what we were talking about.
The man on the phone continued to argue, but I muted him and demanded to speak to my husband and daughter. I needed to hear their voices directly. Briana reassured me that she was fine and had no knowledge of the situation. Relief flooded through me at the sound of her voice, but I was still reeling from the traumatic experience.
I unmuted the other line, where the man persisted in threatening us if we didn’t comply. I called him out, labeling him a scammer, but he continued his charade, insisting that he had my daughter. I finally hung up on him.
Afterwards, I learned that the police considered it a prank call and wouldn’t investigate further since no harm had come to anyone and no money had been exchanged. They suspected it was an AI scam, given the recent increase in such cases. They believed that Briana’s voice had been artificially generated while the man’s voice had been real. The news devastated me, leaving me traumatized. I couldn’t shake the feeling of how real Briana’s cries had sounded. The following day, Aubrey and I joined the rest of the family. I held Briana tightly, overwhelmed with gratitude that we were all safe and reunited. However, the incident has deeply impacted Aubrey. A boy her age attempted to give her his phone number, and she immediately rushed over to me, fearing he was trying to kidnap her. It breaks my heart to witness the lasting effects of this ordeal on her.
They say that three seconds of audio is enough to replicate a person’s voice. While Briana’s social media accounts are private, there are some videos of her being interviewed for sports and school, but none of her crying out. I am concerned about how AI and other new technologies can be exploited to harm children. Having experienced firsthand the terrifying capabilities of these technologies, I am determined to do everything in my power to protect my family and prevent others from enduring similar situations.