MISSOULA, Mont. — Welcome to this week’s Spot the Scam with our partner, Clearwater Credit Union. We have two special guests this week — Kyle Rholl, Senior Vice President of IT at Clearwater Credit Union, and Sherri Davidoff, founder of LMG Security.
Davidoff has advice on how to identify scammers.
“It’s important to look for things like a sense of urgency,” Davidoff said. “Scammers are getting very creative, and they’re always trying to push you into a situation where you have to make a snap decision. The big change we’re seeing right now is they’re leveraging modern technology and AI to use things like voice clones. If you or someone you love has even 30 seconds of audio … they can grab your voice and clone it to make you say whatever they want. That’s really useful when they’re trying to scam you or the people you love.”
Rholl offered advice on how to protect finances from scammers.
“Similar to what Sherri said, scammers prey on your emotions,” Rholl said. “Money is emotional — it goes to the core of everyone’s being. People care deeply about protecting it. We train our staff to look for behavioral patterns. For example, if someone starts taking out large amounts of money when they normally don’t, that’s a red flag. We try to educate our members to be aware of those warning signs.”
Davidoff noted how easy it is for scammers to manipulate audio to fit their purposes.
“They don’t need specific words — they can make you say anything,” Davidoff said. “They just need a quick sample of your voice, like the one you’re giving us right now. We’re starting to see ’emergency scams,’ where someone pretends a loved one is in trouble and uses a cloned voice. It doesn’t have to be a celebrity — anyone with a bit of audio online can be cloned. For example, an elderly man lost about $17,000 after scammers pretended his son-in-law was in jail. They used a cloned voice that sounded just like him. In another case, a woman was scammed out of thousands after she thought her daughter had been in an accident — she heard what sounded like her daughter screaming. Don’t let scammers push you into reacting. Call back the person you think contacted you using a number you already know.”
Rholl said Clearwater Credit Union does not ask for sensitive personal information over the phone.
“We’re not going to call you and ask for sensitive information, Social Security numbers, or anything like that,” Rholl said. “Like Sherri said, if you’re concerned about a call, hang up and call back using a number you know is legitimate.”
Davidoff said folks should be made aware that fake voices exist.
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“Don’t trust caller ID — it might look like it’s coming from the bank, from you, or from another family member, but it may not be,” Davidoff said. “…Never call back the number a scammer gives you.”
