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NOPE
Medium reported severity

Washington man reports wiring $13,000 during a 30-hour fake-kidnapping call that used a reported AI copy of the daughter's voice

The Spokesman-Review (8 May 2026) reported that a 75-year-old man in Washington state took a call on Monday 23 March in which a crying voice presented as the man's adult daughter said an accident had happened and asked for help. Male voices then described a collision and said the daughter had been taken hostage. The newspaper states that the daughter's voice on the call was an AI-generated copy and that investigators later surmised the callers used a recording of the daughter's voice with a program that mimicked the speech pattern. Over about 30 hours the callers directed the man to banks and stores in Washington and Idaho, where $13,000 was wired. The man was about to withdraw $17,000 when a bank employee stalled and police were alerted, and police then reached the daughter, who confirmed being at home and safe. The newspaper says none of the wired money had been recovered when the article was published. The man says it took days to start feeling normal again. The report rests on the man's account, a bank employee's account and a police report quoted by the newspaper. The article gives the call date as Monday 23 March without a year. The record uses 2026 because 23 March fell on a Monday only in 2026 among the years 2023 to 2026. The range starts at 2023 because the article says the Federal Trade Commission began warning about AI voice-copy scams as early as 2023, and it ends at 2026 because the article was published on 8 May 2026.

AI system
Unidentified voice-cloning tool
Occurred
23 Mar 2026 to 24 Mar 2026
Reported
8 May 2026
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Communicated with the person · Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Financial LossPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Relationships · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
6 claims: 6 reported. 8 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Unidentified AI voice-cloning program (the newspaper calls the voice an AI-generated copy of the daughter's voice, and investigators surmised a recording and a program were used)

Reported harm

The Spokesman-Review reports that $13,000 was wired at the callers' direction and that none of it had been recovered when the article was published. The newspaper quotes the man saying "It took me days to literally start feeling normal again" and reports the man's wife saying it took the man a long time to recover. These are the family's own statements. No bank or transfer record was inspected.

What remains unknown

  • The article gives 'Monday, March 23' and 'Tuesday, March 24' without a year. The article is dated 8 May 2026 and says the Federal Trade Commission began warning about AI voice-copy scams as early as 2023. Among 2023 to 2026, 23 March fell on a Monday only in 2026 (Thursday in 2023, Saturday in 2024, Sunday in 2025), so the record uses 2026. No source prints the year, and the 2023 lower bound rests on the article's description of the scam type as new.
  • The identity and location of the callers, the tool that produced the voice and the source recording are not known. The family does not know how the callers obtained the daughter's voice.
  • The investigators who surmised the use of a recording and a program are not identified in the article, and no forensic audio analysis is reported.
  • The total of $13,000 is the newspaper's figure. The itemised transfers in the article appear to add up to about $12,500, and the article does not reconcile the difference.
  • The newspaper does not quote the daughter directly, reports the daughter's statement only through the officer's report, and withheld the daughter's identity at the family's request. No consequence to the daughter is reported beyond the use of the voice.
  • The man spoke with police and FBI investigators after the ordeal. No outcome of any investigation is reported.
  • The article reports transfers to a recipient in Mexico, calls from numbers with Oregon, Washington and Idaho area codes and a caller with a Scottish accent. None of these establishes where the callers were.
  • The account rests on one newspaper report built on the man's statements, a bank employee's statements and a police report. The Yahoo copy is the same article, so the report is one reporting chain.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The newspaper states in its own voice that the voice was an AI-generated copy and reports that investigators, not identified in the article, later surmised the callers used a recording of the daughter's voice and a program that mimicked the speech pattern. A bank employee describes an AI-generated voice that the man could not tell from the daughter's. No forensic audio analysis, tool or source recording is reported, and the family does not know how the callers obtained the voice.

6 claims: 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The newspaper states that the daughter's voice on the call was an AI-generated copy and reports that investigators later surmised the callers used a recording of the daughter's voice and a program that mimicked the speech pattern. The man said the voice sounded to the man like the daughter's, and a bank employee described an AI-generated voice that the man could not tell from the daughter's.

Causal attribution. The newspaper's statement rests on unnamed investigators' surmise, the man's account and a bank employee's remark. No forensic voice analysis is reported, and the newspaper does not quote the daughter directly.

Reported The call came on Monday 23 March. After a crying voice presented as the man's daughter said an accident had happened and asked for help, a male voice identified as a medic said the daughter had been in a collision, and a second male voice said the daughter had been taken hostage after interrupting a drug transaction. The second voice made threats against the daughter and demanded money to cover the interrupted transaction, and the man was ordered to keep the call going.

Causal attribution. The man's account as told to the newspaper. The article does not identify the callers or say how the call was traced.

Reported For about 30 hours the callers kept the man on the phone and directed the man to banks and stores in Washington and Idaho to withdraw cash and send transfers. The man intended to withdraw $17,000, the sum the callers said would buy the daughter's freedom.

Causal attribution. The man's account and the newspaper's narration. The bank employee's account covers only the final stop.

Reported The man wired $13,000 in transfers directed by the callers and, when the article was published, had not been able to recover any of the money.

Causal attribution. The amount is the newspaper's figure from the man's account. No bank, store or transfer record was inspected.

Reported The ordeal ended at a bank branch on the afternoon of Tuesday 24 March. A bank employee stalled the withdrawal while police were alerted, and police then reached the daughter through the man's wife. The daughter confirmed being at home and safe. The newspaper quotes the responding officer's written report for the exchange.

Causal attribution. The bank employee's account and the officer's report as quoted by the newspaper. The police report itself was not inspected. The daughter's statement that the daughter was safe reaches the record only through the officer's report as quoted by the newspaper.

Reported The man told the newspaper that the ordeal left a feeling of helplessness and that it took days to start feeling normal again. The newspaper reports the man's wife saying it took the man a long time to recover.

Causal attribution. The family's own statements to the newspaper. No clinical or other independent source is cited.

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in full on the live page (about 18,000 characters including page navigation). Applies to s1.

Syndicated copy of the same Spokesman-Review article, dated 11 May 2026 (12 May UTC), with straight quotation marks. Adds no independent reporting. Applies to s2.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: Unknown.

The article places the events in a county and towns in the state of Washington and in Idaho, refers to the FBI and the FTC, and reports call numbers with Oregon, Washington and Idaho area codes. It also reports transfers to a recipient in Mexico, which does not establish where the callers were. The callers' location is unknown and no court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-30: One newspaper report based on the man's account, a bank employee's account and a police report. The man spoke to the newspaper under the man's own name and is described by role here because the newspaper withheld the daughter's identity at the family's request. Bank staff, police officers and the man's wife are not named. The AI attribution is the newspaper's statement resting on unnamed investigators' surmise, so all claims are marked reported. The article prints no year for the call, and the year 2026 is derived from its weekday and date pairs (Monday 23 March, Tuesday 24 March) within the range the article supports, as set out in the first unknown.

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person, the man who wired $13,000 and reports distress, is reported harmed. The daughter's voice was imitated and no consequence to the daughter is reported, so the daughter is not counted. The man's wife, who was travelling and was contacted by police, is not reported harmed and is 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). Washington man reports wiring $13,000 during a 30-hour fake-kidnapping call that used a reported AI copy of the daughter's voice. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-washington-man-reports-wiring-13000-in-30-hour-fake-kidnapping-call-with-reported-ai-copy-of-daughters-voice

BibTeX

@misc{2026_washington_man_reports_wiring_13000_in_30_hour_fake_kidnapping_call_with_reported_ai_copy_of_daughters_voice,
  title = {Washington man reports wiring \$13,000 during a 30-hour fake-kidnapping call that used a reported AI copy of the daughter's voice},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-washington-man-reports-wiring-13000-in-30-hour-fake-kidnapping-call-with-reported-ai-copy-of-daughters-voice}
}

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