Sam Metrovich, a solutions advisor at Microsoft, revealed an attempt to hack him using an AI-driven phishing call. The call initially deceived him before he realized the complexity of the attack, as reported by Forbes.
The story began when Metrovich received a notification that appeared to be from Gmail asking him to recover his account. This usual warning typically prompts users to change their passwords, but Metrovich, due to his experience, ignored it. 40 minutes later, he received a missed call that seemed to be from Google, but he did not pay attention to it at the time.
The situation escalated after a week when he received a similar notification followed by another phone call. This time, he decided to answer the call and found himself talking to someone claiming to be from Google support, informing him of suspicious activity on his Gmail account, which raised his suspicions.
During the call, the scammer tried to convince Metrovich that his account had been compromised and needed assistance to regain control. What was concerning was that the call was very precise, to the point that Metrovich initially thought the caller was a real person. However, he realized that the voice was generated by artificial intelligence when he noticed how perfect the pronunciation and word spacing were.
Metrovich did not fall victim to this attack, but his warning was clear: these fraudulent calls can use AI to manipulate users and make them unknowingly provide their personal data. Everyone should be cautious of any suspicious calls claiming to be from Google support, as the company does not communicate with its users over the phone.
To protect against these attacks, Metrovich advises turning off the phone if suspicious of any calls, and always checking recent activities on Gmail accounts to see if there has been any breach. It is also important to be cautious of sudden links or login requests, as scammers rely on creating a sense of urgency to prompt users to make quick decisions.
