AI-powered scam calls are getting more convincing—and more common: 'It was her voice, I know her scared cry'

Kris Sampson was working from home in Missoula, Montana, when her phone lit up with a call that appeared to come from her adult daughter. Sampson says the caller ID showed her name and photo, and the familiar ringtone sounded. But when she answered, she heard what sounded like her daughter crying. "It was her voice, I know her scared cry," Sampson tells CNBC Make It. "I thought maybe she'd been in a car wreck." Moments later, a man came on the line, Sampson says. He spoke calmly at first, using her first name and asking if she was her daughter's mother. Then his tone shifted. Sampson says he began shouting, making threats and demanding money, warning her not to contact the police or try to reach her daughter. Sampson says she had seen a news story about similar kidnapping scams, in which callers impersonate family members in distress and demand money. But her daughter's voice sounded so real, she says, she didn't want to risk being wrong. Then she heard her daughter say "mom," which she says made it harder to believe it was a scam. "It was the most afraid I've ever experienced in my life," Sampson says. It was the most afraid I've ever experienced in my life. Sampson says she told the caller that she would send money, but kept asking to speak to her daughter as the caller grew more aggressive. The caller demanded money through PayPal, she says, but never specified an amount. …