AI incident ·
Scammers Allegedly Used AI-Generated Voice in Boone County, Missouri, Kidnapping Ransom Scam
In brief
An AI system built by Deepfake Technology Developers, Voice Cloning Technology Developers and 2 others and deployed by Unidentified Perpetrators Of Boone County Missouri Ai Voice Kidnapping Scam, Scammers and 4 others allegedly harmed Boone County Missouri Resident Targeted By Alleged Ai Voice Kidnapping Scam, Daughter Of Boone County Missouri Resident Targeted By Alleged Ai Voice Kidnapping Scam and 9 others.
- Risk domain
- Not classified
- Occurred
- Coverage
- 2 reports
What happened
Boone County, Missouri, authorities said a resident received a call on July 17, 2026, that displayed the resident's daughter's name and number and used an AI-generated imitation of her voice to claim she had been kidnapped at gunpoint. A second voice demanded ransom. A coordinated police response located the daughter safely in Jefferson City, unaware of the call; no payment or arrest was reported.
Laws that address this harm
No recorded instrument yet addresses this use case where it happened. See the open queue.
Matched from the record's risk domain and country to the instruments recorded here. A reviewer can correct the match in the repository (data/external/incident_overrides.yaml).
News reports (2)
Titles link to the original publisher; report text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged harmed party
- Boone County Missouri Resident Targeted By Alleged Ai Voice Kidnapping Scam, Daughter Of Boone County Missouri Resident Targeted By Alleged Ai Voice Kidnapping Scam, Boone County Sheriff'S Office, Law Enforcement, Victims Of Deepfake Abuse, Targets Of Scams, Public Safety, Epistemic Integrity, Privacy, Victims Of Voice Cloning Impersonation Scams, Families
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
- Risk domain
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- Risk subdomain
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- Causal entity
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- Intent
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- Timing
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Source record: incident #1615 on the AI Incident Database · all 2 reports