“Mom?” My daughter’s voice echoed through the phone, filled with distress. My heart dropped and my body trembled in fear. I strained to hear a man’s voice instructing her to lie down and tilt her head back. Briana, my 15-year-old daughter, was participating in a skiing competition with my husband two hours away, and I immediately feared the worst. I was in the car, picking up her 13-year-old sister, Aubrey, from her dance class in Arizona. As I listened to Briana sobbing and screaming for help over the phone, panic coursed through my veins. The man on the other end claimed to have kidnapped her, threatening to drug her and abandon her in Mexico if I told anyone.
I hurriedly rushed into the lobby of the building where Aubrey was having her dance class, my phone on mute, desperately seeking assistance from other parents. Meanwhile, the man continued his barrage of threats through the phone. Some concerned mothers quickly dialed 911. When Aubrey emerged from her class, she was engulfed in panic after hearing the commotion. I pleaded with her to contact the rest of our family, but she was frozen in terror, trying to process that her sister had been taken. The expression on her face at that moment will forever haunt me.
“The ransom is $1 million if you want to see her again,” the man menacingly declared. Knowing I didn’t have that amount of money, I reluctantly agreed to give him $50,000. He instructed me to wait for him in a white van, where he would blindfold me so I couldn’t identify our destination. He made it clear that if I failed to bring the money in cash, both my daughter and I would be left for dead in Mexico. Without a second thought, I knew I had to do anything to save my child’s life.
One of the mothers who had been calling 911 suddenly exclaimed, her voice distorted in my panicked state, “It’s an AI scam!” Recently, the police had been receiving numerous reports of similar incidents. However, I couldn’t accept this revelation. All I could think about was my daughter, out there somewhere, in desperate need of rescue. I would never mistake her voice. Another mother then informed me that she had reached my husband, who had found Briana safe and sound at the ski resort. She had been skiing and had no idea what was happening.
Yet, the man on the phone persisted, refusing to back down from his threats. Mutating his call, I demanded to speak to my husband and daughter on the other line. I needed to hear their voices for myself and find solace in their safety. Briana reassured me that she was fine and oblivious to the chaos surrounding her. Relieved, yet shaken to my core, I unmuted the other line, where the man continued his tirade. I boldly confronted him, labeling him as a scammer, but he persisted, claiming he indeed had my daughter. In a rush of desperation and defiance, I abruptly ended the call, refusing to engage further.
I was devastated when the police dismissed the incident as a prank call, refusing to investigate since no one had been physically harmed or lost any money. They believed it to be another AI scam, considering the rise in such cases. However, I couldn’t shake off the trauma, as the realism of my daughter’s voice haunted me. Aubrey and I joined the rest of our family the next day, relieved to be reunited and safe. However, the incident deeply affected Aubrey, who now fears for her safety and is wary of strangers. It breaks my heart to witness her fear.
It is alarming to realize that just three seconds of audio can replicate a person’s voice. While Briana’s social media accounts are private, there are videos of her being interviewed for sports and school, but none of her crying out for help. The potential harm that emerging technologies like AI pose to children is deeply concerning to me. Having personally experienced the terror caused by such incidents, I am determined to do everything in my power to protect my family and prevent others from enduring similar ordeals. This is my story, shared with Elizabeth McCafferty for The Guardian.
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