US Secret Service issues holiday warning on insidious new techniques cyber criminals are using to defraud Chicago-area victims

CHICAGO (WLS) — Sophisticated voice cloning systems are being used by cyber criminals to manipulate unsuspecting people into transferring vast sums of money into untraceable crypto currency, the ABC7 I-Team has learned.

U.S. Secret Service Assistant to the Special Agent In Charge, Joe Kefer, runs the cyber fraud squad in the Chicago Field Office. He says criminals are increasingly using the internet to manipulate and steal a torrent of cash from the unsuspecting, increasingly by pretending to be someone they know to manipulate a target.

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“Fraud cases that involve cryptocurrency tracing, whereas an individual is defrauded through an impersonation scam or a fraudulent investment scam, and they’re convinced to change their currency from U.S. dollars into cryptocurrency,” Kefer told the I-Team.

He says those cases have exploded in the last five years to several a week investigated by the Secret Service. Most recently impersonated was the owner of a Nothing Bunt Cakes franchise in multiple Chicago area locations.

“One of his employees received a phone call from somebody who was disguised as the business owner, they used voice replication technology to describe to disguise their voice and make it seem like they’re the business owner,” Kefer said.

Kefer says the cyber criminal then convinced the employee to take all the cash from the register, go to a cryptocurrency ATM and send it to them. The amount of audio needed for a voice dupe is only about three seconds, according to Kefer.

“We have known that this technology has existed for years, but slowly, we’re seeing that this is happening more often,” Kefer said.

While cyber crime is now a major focus, the Secret Service still has its eye on cold hard counterfeit cash as people shop.

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Another warning was shared as preparations for the holidays begins: new sophisticated credit card skimming from organized transnational crime syndicates.

“We’re seeing them coming from different countries around the world and operating in the in the U.S.,” said James Morley, Deputy Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service Chicago field office.

Morely says criminal organizations work with local thieves to place skimmers at points of sale, but with an update.

“The skimmers have adopted Bluetooth technology,” Morely said. “And when that card gets skimmed by that device, it’ll automatically get sent via Bluetooth to that phone and then get picked up by a computer or phone anywhere in the world. So, it’s not uncommon where you’ll have a card skimmed here in Chicago and then utilized five minutes later in New York.”

Morely recommends people to call their credit card company if they suspect fraud and to use tap to pay options when possible. Those can be exploited as well, but rarely.

Both Secret Service agents the I-Team spoke with recommended physically shaking the point-of-sale terminal to see if there is a device that shouldn’t be there, but they say as technology evolves, so do criminals working to exploit the unsuspecting.