It was a regular Tuesday evening when Mr. Chawla’s phone rang.
JANUARY 2026 | VOL. 56
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The Ransom Call
2-minute read
He picks up and hears a trembling voice,
It was his 11-year-old son!!
Fear gripped Mr. Chawla.
Mr. Chawla panics and calls his wife.
No answer.
He transfers the money to the mobile number.
20 mins later, his son walks in
Mr. Chawla’s heart sinks.
The voice he heard was not his son’s!
It was a flawless AI cloned voice!
The sophistication in this scam, lies in the psychology and not the software.
Let’s break it down.
The scam starts with a 5–10
second voice sample
Just 5 to 10 seconds is enough for today’s cloning tools. They get it from:
A school performance video posted online
A birthday reel
A voice note sent in a group
An online vlog the family forgot about
Your voice online, is like a fingerprint you didn’t realise you were sharing.
They trigger panic with a highly emotional scene
A kidnapping. An accident. A cry for help.
They add:
Background crying
Fake sobs
Noise that makes it feel urgent
A stern ‘kidnapper’ voice shouting instructions
It just has to be emotional enough to override reasoning.
They call using masked or spoofed phone numbers
These numbers often show up as:
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Local mobile numbers
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Internet calling routes
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Spoofed caller IDs
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Even calls with foreign prefixes
The idea is to avoid being traced.
They play the cloned voice at the exact emotional peak
The child crying… the relative begging… the urgent ‘please help me…’
The emotional hit lands instantly. Logical thinking disappears.
They push for instant digital payment
So, they demand:
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UPI transfers
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Wallet payments
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Quick QR codes
They cut the call and disappear
By the time the victim realises the scam, the money is already split and laundered across multiple accounts.
If you are a victim of online fraud, reach out to the National Cyber Crime at cybercrime.gov.in, call the helpline number on 1930 or call ICICI Bank’s helpline number on 1800 2662.
If you have received any malicious/phishing/suspicious e-mails or calls, report them to Sanchar Saathi and ICICI Bank at antiphishing@icicibank.com.
