BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra nearly fell sufferer to a cellphone rip-off that makes use of synthetic intelligence to impersonate the voice of a international chief, he mentioned on Wednesday (Jan 15).
The prime minister, the youngest daughter of telecom billionaire and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, mentioned she obtained a message in a voice that sounded an identical to that of a well known chief, with out figuring out the particular person.
“In the clip, he mentioned he was trying ahead to seeing me and dealing collectively,” she mentioned.
She missed a name from the identical quantity in a single day, earlier than a second voicemail the subsequent day aroused her suspicions.
“The rumor mentioned Thailand is the one ASEAN nation that hasn’t made a donation but – once I heard that, I assumed ‘this is not proper’,” he mentioned.
A textual content message asking to ship cash to a checking account exterior Thailand adopted shortly after, confirming his doubts.
“I knew it for positive once I noticed it,” he mentioned.
Paetongtarn didn’t say when he obtained the messages.
So-called “name middle scams” are frequent in Thailand, wherein scammers pose as police, authorities officers or financial institution workers, usually utilizing automated “robocalls” to make preliminary contact.
Paetongtarn, 38, declared property of greater than $400 million to Thailand’s anti-corruption fee final week.
His father Thaksin, who as soon as owned the Manchester City soccer membership, has a web value of $2.1 billion, in keeping with Forbes, making him Thailand’s tenth richest particular person.
