Jewish Autonomous Region, Russia: police say scammers cloned a man's voice from old voice messages to ask his contacts for money; one paid 15,225 roubles
The Ministry of Internal Affairs directorate for Russia's Jewish Autonomous Region said on 21 October 2026 that residents increasingly report a combined scam in which messenger accounts are hacked, the chat history deleted, and the victim's contacts called with a voice cloned by neural networks. In the case it describes, a man in Birobidzhan followed a voting link sent from an acquaintance's hacked account. The scammers then gained access to his accounts and called his contacts; according to the police, they imitated his speech using voice-cloning technology based on his previously recorded voice messages. Seven of his acquaintances were misled and one transferred 15,225 roubles. The scammers also gained access to his account on the Gosuslugi state services portal. The police do not say how they established that a cloned voice was used, name a tool, or date the events.
- AI system
- Unidentified voice-cloning tool
- Occurred
- Event date unknown
- Reported
- 21 October 2026
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Depicted or impersonated the person
- Reported harm
- Financial LossOther Material Harm
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Finance · Privacy
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
- 4 claims: 4 reported. 3 open questions
- People reported harmed
- 2 people
AI system as recorded: Voice-cloning technology based on the man's previously recorded voice messages, used by scammers to imitate his speech in calls to his contacts, as the regional police describe it (tool not identified)
What Happened
The police account. In a release of 21 October 2026, the Ministry of Internal Affairs directorate for the Jewish Autonomous Region said that residents were increasingly reporting a combined remote scam: messenger accounts are hacked, the conversation history is deleted, and the victim's contacts are then called using neural networks to clone the victim's voice.
The case. A man in Birobidzhan received a messenger message from an acquaintance asking him to vote for her business in a contest, with a link. He followed it; her account had been hacked and the conversation deleted. He then received a call telling him that requests to borrow money were being made in his name. According to the police, the scammers had gained access to his accounts and were calling his contacts, imitating his speech with voice-cloning technology based on voice messages he had recorded earlier. Seven of his acquaintances were misled; one transferred 15,225 roubles. The scammers also gained access to his account on the Gosuslugi state services portal.
Advice. The police advise residents to interrupt suspicious calls or voice messages asking for money and call the person back, to use a personal check question, and to restrict access to old voice messages because fewer samples make a convincing neural-network imitation harder.
Limits. The release does not date the events, name a tool or explain how the police established that a cloned voice was used. A second case in the same release, in which a woman transferred 12,000 roubles after a text request from a hacked account, describes no voice cloning and is not part of this case.
Reported harm
According to the regional police, scammers imitated a hacked messenger user's voice with voice-cloning technology to ask his contacts for money; seven were misled and one transferred 15,225 roubles, and the scammers also took over his state-services account.
How Harm Occurred
According to the police, scammers who took over a man's messenger accounts used voice-cloning technology on his earlier voice messages to imitate his speech when calling his contacts for money; one contact paid.
Outcome
UnknownThe police release describes the case as an example of reports received; it does not say whether a criminal case was opened, whether the money was recovered or whether anyone was identified.
What remains unknown
- When the account takeover and the calls happened; the release gives no date.
- How the police established that a cloned voice was used, and which tool.
- Whether a criminal case was opened, whether the money was recovered and whether anyone was identified.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The investigating regional police say the scammers imitated the man's speech using voice-cloning technology based on voice messages he had recorded earlier, and that with these calls they misled seven of his acquaintances, one of whom transferred 15,225 roubles. The cloned voice that impersonated him toward his contacts is the AI output connected to the loss. The police do not disclose how they established the voice cloning or name the tool.
4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported The regional police say residents increasingly report a scam in which messenger accounts are hacked, the chat history deleted, and the victim's contacts called using neural networks to clone the victim's voice.
Causal attribution. The police's general description of the scheme; the relay repeats the same release.
- 79.xn--b1aew.xn--p1ai(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
'Злоумышленники используют комбинированную аферу: взламывают аккаунты в мессенджерах, удаляют историю переписки, а затем обзванивают контакты жертвы, используя нейросети для клонирования голоса'
- vremya-bir.ru(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
'Они взламывают аккаунты в мессенджерах, удаляют историю переписки, а затем обзванивают контакты жертвы, используя нейросети для клонирования голоса'
Reported According to the police, after the man followed a voting link from an acquaintance's hacked account, the scammers gained access to his accounts, called his contacts and imitated his speech using voice-cloning technology based on his earlier recorded voice messages.
Causal attribution. The investigating police attribute the imitation to voice cloning; they do not disclose how they established it or name a tool.
- 79.xn--b1aew.xn--p1ai(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
'Потерпевший перешел по ней и отдал голос. Позже выяснилось, что ее аккаунт был взломан, а диалог удален.'; 'Используя технологию клонирования голоса на основе ранее записанных голосовых сообщений, они имитировали его речь.'
- vremya-bir.ru(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
'с помощью технологии клонирования голоса на основе старых аудиосообщений начали обзванивать его контакты'
Reported The police say seven of the man's acquaintances were misled and one of them transferred 15,225 roubles to the scammers.
Causal attribution. Police account of the consequence; the relay rounds the sum to 15 thousand roubles.
- 79.xn--b1aew.xn--p1ai(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
'В результате злоумышленникам удалось ввести в заблуждение семерых знакомых мужчины. Один из них перевел злоумышленникам денежные средства в сумме 15 225 рублей.'
Reported The police say the scammers also gained access to the man's account on the Gosuslugi state services portal.
Causal attribution. Police account; the account takeover followed the hacked link and is not attributed to the cloned voice.
- 79.xn--b1aew.xn--p1ai(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
'злоумышленники получили доступ к учетной записи гражданина на портале «Госуслуги»'
Sources
2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- UMVD for the Jewish Autonomous Region (press release), 21 Oct 2026: scammers clone residents' voices and steal money through hacked chats(opens in new tab)
s1 · 79.xn--b1aew.xn--p1ai · Official statement · Russian · Inspected · 21 October 2026 · Shares an underlying account with another listed source · Primary
- Vremya Birobidzhana, 21 Oct 2026: scammers clone the voices of residents of the Jewish Autonomous Region(opens in new tab)
s2 · vremya-bir.ru · News report · Russian · Inspected · 21 October 2026 · Shares an underlying account with another listed source
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in Russian by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Press release of the Ministry of Internal Affairs directorate for the Jewish Autonomous Region (79.mvd.rf, HTTP 200), shown as 'Сегодня 08:55' when fetched at about 13:00 local time on 21 October 2026. Applies to s1.
Read in Russian by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Vremya Birobidzhana, 21 October 2026 10:00 (HTTP 200), which says the account came from the regional police press service; it relays the same release and is the same source group. Applies to s2.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Russia. Court countries: Unknown.
The regional police of the Jewish Autonomous Region, Russia, describe the man as a resident of Birobidzhan, so his country is Russia; residence does not locate the calls, and the release does not say where he or his acquaintances were when they were made, so no event country is recorded. No court proceeding is reported.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-21: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the investigating regional police say scammers imitated a man's voice with voice-cloning technology built from his old voice messages to ask his contacts for money, and one paid 15,225 roubles. The technical basis of the police attribution is undisclosed. No name, age or business appears in the public record.
People described
A man in Birobidzhan whose messenger and state-services accounts were taken over and whose voice was imitated, and an acquaintance of his who transferred money after a call
People reported harmed in this case
2 people
0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed
Two people: the man whose accounts were taken over and whose voice was imitated, and the acquaintance who transferred 15,225 roubles (police release). The other six acquaintances are described only as misled, with no loss reported, and are not counted.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Jewish Autonomous Region, Russia: police say scammers cloned a man's voice from old voice messages to ask his contacts for money; one paid 15,225 roubles. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-jewish-autonomous-region-police-say-scammers-cloned-mans-voice-from-old-voice-messages-to-ask-contacts-for-money
BibTeX
@misc{2026_jewish_autonomous_region_police_say_scammers_cloned_mans_voice_from_old_voice_messages_to_ask_contacts_for_money,
title = {Jewish Autonomous Region, Russia: police say scammers cloned a man's voice from old voice messages to ask his contacts for money; one paid 15,225 roubles},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-jewish-autonomous-region-police-say-scammers-cloned-mans-voice-from-old-voice-messages-to-ask-contacts-for-money}
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