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June 15, 2023

Arizona Mother Recounts Horror of Deepfake Kidnapping Scam
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Here in the U.S., Jennifer De Stefano, an Arizona mother, testified at a
Senate hearing this week about her harrowing experience with a deepfake
scam that tricked her into thinking her daughter had been kidnapped. De
Stefano says the fake kidnappers demanded a $50,000 ransom before she
got in touch with her daughter, who was in fact safe and sound.

Jennifer De Stefano: "It was my daughter's voice. It was her cries. It
was her sobs. It was the way she spoke. I will never be able to shake
that voice and the desperate cries for help out of my mind. It's every
parent's worst nightmare to hear your child pleading with fear and pain,
knowing that they're being harmed and that you're helpless. The longer
this form of terror remains unpunishable, the farther and more egregious
it will become. There is no limit to the depth of evil AI can enable."



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