SALT LAKE CITY — If you received an email that included footage of Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown saying that you owe the federal government nearly $100,000, it was a scam.
Salt Lake City Police learned a community member in Woods Cross received an email from a fake SLCPD account, featuring a video message artificially generated to impersonate the voice of the Salt Lake City Police Department Chief Mike Brown.
The video footage was taken from an interview with Chief Brown several years ago, with audio informing the recipient that a wire transfer was rejected and that they still owed the federal government nearly $100,000.
While police have determined the audio was AI-generated, the Google account that sent the scam did not come from an email domain of "slc.gov" like all other official emails sent by the Salt Lake City Police Department.
The video is not available due to it being considered evidence in an ongoing investigation.
Salt Lake City police also urge community members to look out for potential signs of scams in emails:
Potential signs of a voice-cloning scam:
- The contact you received is unexpected or unsolicited.
- You feel pressured to act quickly.
- The caller or message urgently requests money via wire transfer, gift card, payment app, or cryptocurrency, making it difficult to recover funds.
- They ask for personal or private information.
- You’re told to keep the request a secret.
Ways on how to protect yourself:
- Ask specific questions: Caller ID can be faked, and while a scammer may sound familiar, they may not answer specific personal questions accurately, timely, or fully.
- Verify the call: Hang up and contact the person directly by calling their trusted phone number, not the number that called you. If they’re unreachable, try reaching out through another family member or friend.
- Pause and think: Scammers often create urgency to manipulate you. Take a moment to step back and consider the totality of the situation and message.
- Limit social media sharing: Scammers can use publicly shared information to create convincing impersonations.
