{"id":6950,"date":"2025-10-31T18:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T22:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=6950"},"modified":"2025-10-31T18:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T22:00:11","slug":"why-would-scammers-collect-recordings-of-a-real-estate-pros-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/why-would-scammers-collect-recordings-of-a-real-estate-pros-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Would Scammers Collect Recordings of a Real Estate Pro\u2019s Voice?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The short answer: to create voice impersonations for future fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people look to real estate professionals when buying or selling a home. Imposter agents can do tremendous damage. We\u2019ve already discussed AI-enabled deed fraud<\/a>. Voice-cloning raises the stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the latest.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

We-Buy Homes Companies Using AI Voice Agents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Are you interested in selling your home? You could get a call from an AI voice agent to ask you. This is not your ordinary robocall. AI technology can now easily clone real people\u2019s voices, making solicitations convincing and uncannily real. This call is holding a conversation with you, and you think you\u2019re speaking with another human being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But do you sense something a little off? A little lag before answering? Unusually formal language?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You grill the voice agent. It admits to being an \u201cAI assistant\u201d working for an investment company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are not the kind of interactions you want, so you turn to the national do-not-call list. But this doesn\u2019t stop them. And the story gets worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using Voice to Manipulate Emotions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s artificial intelligence can draft legal petitions, compose symphonies, and simulate human emotion, reports the American Bar Association. When bad actors become AI users, the results can be tragic in real estate deals, or in any situation where large sums of money are targeted. To get a feel for just how nasty the setup can be, and just how cautious we all need to be, the ABA asks its members to consider a real case. It happened this year in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharon B. picked up the phone to hear her daughter\u2019s voice, crying. She told her mother she\u2019d just survived a road accident, suffered a miscarriage, and needed legal help immediately to prevent criminal charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharon sent $15,000 in cash in response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t her daughter at all. It was a tech-enabled replication of her daughter\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few seconds of a real audio recording, the ABA explains, is enough for machine learning models to copy voices and make new recordings through AI-enabled voice generating software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, the same old scammer techniques are in play: create a sense of urgency, impersonate someone in distress, request immediate cash. But now, with AI, the emotional manipulation and the ability to convince targets are so much more potent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well-Known, Tech-Savvy Broker? Or Slick Replica?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Scam accounts that impersonate brokers are now all over the place. They attract hopeful renters with fabulous deals on apartments, marketed by well-known real estate brokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fleeced home-seekers are calling the agents, demanding refunds of their fees and deposits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some agents get visited by the targeted people, who show up expecting to get the keys to apartments that aren\u2019t actually on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scammers advertise the bogus deals under generic brokerage names at WhatsApp or Telegram. When it\u2019s time to interact with hopeful clients, they impersonate the high-profile agents over on TikTok and Instagram. They display fake business cards. They\u2019ll often direct their targets to actual agents\u2019 listing pages.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rough-and-tumble New York City rental market is fertile ground for these types of swindles. No one should ever send a fee or deposit by wire transfer or by app for an apartment or a house, sight-unseen. But many people do, in competitive markets. Bad actors know this. They seek out parents looking to reserve rental properties for their young adult children who are directed to send immediate deposits to hold the units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scammers might offer video tours of the apartments. Kim Velsey at Curbed<\/em> observes that \u201cit\u2019s easy enough to lift a reel of a $15,000-a-month rental and slap on a new voice-over and a $2,200 price.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gird Yourself Against Swindlers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Many professional real estate pros have published videos of themselves, so samples of their voices are easily available to bad actors. But anyone can be a target \u2014 either for their money, or their identity. Anyone\u2019s voice is available to the phishing scammers who will try to get you on the phone to harvest the raw material they want \u2014 voice samples \u2014 for future fraudulent phone calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voice cloning is a remarkable tool in the hands of swindlers. Who would love this technology more than someone who profits off fakery? And as time goes on, the machine-learning system only gets better at replicating speech cadence, gestures, and emotion. Forewarned is forearmed. Train yourself to take the following precautions against these sickening ploys:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n