Latest news with #HillsboroughCountySheriff'sOffice
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
'My daughter rang me in tears after horror car crash - then grim lies unravelled'
A distraught mum broke down in tears once she heard from her daughter - but a web of lies soon unravelled after a suspicious phone call about a car crash A woman has fallen victim to a scam after cruel fraudsters used artificial intelligence to clone her daughter's voice, convincing her to hand over £11,000 [$15,000]. Sharon Brightwell, from Florida, received a call on July 9 from a number resembling her daughter's. When she answered, she heard what she believed was her daughter crying and saying she had been involved in a serious car accident. "There is nobody that could convince me that it wasn't her," Sharon told WFLA. "I know my daughter's cry.| The caller claimed to have crashed into a pregnant woman while texting and driving. A mystery man, claiming to be an attorney, then took over and told a distraught Sharon that her daughter was being detained and needed £11,000 [$15,000] in bail money. READ MORE: Boy, 15, killed in M60 horror tragedy ahead of Oasis gig Sharon withdrew the money and followed the delivery instructions given to her. But the scammers soon called again, saying the pregnant woman had lost her baby and was threatening to sue unless she sent an additional £22,000 [$30,000]. It was at this point that Sharon's grandson intervened. Together with a family friend, he helped her contact her real daughter, who was unharmed and still at work. "When I heard her voice, I broke down," Sharon admitted. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office confirmed that a police report has been filed and detectives are investigating the case. "That is all the information we have at this time as it remains an active investigation," officials said in a statement. Sharon's daughter, April Monroe, later explained on GoFundMe that scammers had used AI technology to clone her voice. "My voice was AI cloned and sounded exactly like me," she wrote. "My mom and son were in absolute shock." April said she was on her lunch break when her family was frantically trying to reach her. A family friend eventually connected her to her mother in a three-way call to prove she was safe. "I have never heard the sounds she made when she heard that I was fine," April wrote. She added that her father is dealing with a botched surgery and dementia, leaving her mother under significant stress and more vulnerable to the scam. "We only hope it will prevent this from continuing to victimise vulnerable people," she said. Voice-cloning scams are on the rise globally as AI technology becomes more accessible. Criminals can replicate a person's voice using just a few seconds of audio taken from social media, voicemail, or other recordings. In the UK, the government has warned that AI scams are on the rise as technology becomes more realistic. "Fraudsters are able to use increasingly sophisticated methods, relying on the systematic analysis of large amounts of data in an effort to identify and exploit vulnerabilities that might exist in our organisations for their own gain," explains the Gov website. "Artificial intelligence is not new but we have seen accelerated coverage in the media and as a hot topic at public and private sector events in recent years." The UK has launched an AI Safety Institute to help crackdown on AI safety.
West Australian
a day ago
- West Australian
Sharon Brightwell: Mother cruelly tricked by AI scammer who used her own daughter's voice to steal from her
A mother has fallen victim to a heartless scam after callers used AI to pose as her daughter. When Sharon Brightwell picked up the phone on July 9 she heard her own daughter tearfully tell her she had been in a car accident. 'There is nobody that could convince me that it wasn't her,' Sharon said. 'I know my daughter's cry,' she told WFLA . She listened to the caller tell her that she had hit a pregnant woman while texting and driving, and said her phone was confiscated by police. Then the Florida woman heard a male voice who told her he was the lawyer that would represent her daughter. He said the daughter was in custody and needed $23,000 to post bail. Ms Brightwell said the man gave very detailed instructions, and warned her 'not to tell the bank what the money was for' because it would affect her daughter's credit score. In a state of shock she followed the instructions, withdrew the money and placed it in a box as the man had requested. Then a driver showed up to her house and collected the package. This was not the end, and Ms Brightwell received another call telling her the unborn child had died in the womb as a result of the accident, and that the family would not sue if they were paid $46,000. This is when Ms Brightwell's grandson intervened. He arranged a phone call with Ms Brightwell's real daughter on the other line. When Ms Brightwell heard her daughter's voice she 'screamed' and 'broke down'. Her daughter had been fine the whole time. The family suspects the scammers used videos from the daughter's social media to accurately replicate her voice in a cruel and emotionally manipulative scam. They have reported the matter to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and urge other families to take precautions against this sophisticated high-tech scam. Ms Brightwell's daughter has launched a GoFundMe page to cover the cost of the $23,000. On the page, she wrote, that the AI cloned voice sounded 'exactly like her'. 'After you hear your child in distress, all logic is out the window. Nothing would have convinced her that wasn't me.'
Perth Now
a day ago
- Perth Now
Sharon Brightwell: Mother cruelly tricked by AI scammer who used her own daughter's voice to steal from her
Sharon Brightwell fell victim to a scammer after they used her own daughter's voice to convince her she was in trouble. Sharon Brightwell fell victim to a scammer after they used her own daughter's voice to convince her she was in trouble. Credit: Sharon Brightwell / Facebook A mother has fallen victim to a heartless scam after callers used AI to pose as her daughter. When Sharon Brightwell picked up the phone on July 9 she heard her own daughter tearfully tell her she had been in a car accident. 'There is nobody that could convince me that it wasn't her,' Sharon said. 'I know my daughter's cry,' she told WFLA. She listened to the caller tell her that she had hit a pregnant woman while texting and driving, and said her phone was confiscated by police. Then the Florida woman heard a male voice who told her he was the lawyer that would represent her daughter. He said the daughter was in custody and needed $23,000 to post bail. Ms Brightwell said the man gave very detailed instructions, and warned her 'not to tell the bank what the money was for' because it would affect her daughter's credit score. In a state of shock she followed the instructions, withdrew the money and placed it in a box as the man had requested. Then a driver showed up to her house and collected the package. This was not the end, and Ms Brightwell received another call telling her the unborn child had died in the womb as a result of the accident, and that the family would not sue if they were paid $46,000. This is when Ms Brightwell's grandson intervened. He arranged a phone call with Ms Brightwell's real daughter on the other line. When Ms Brightwell heard her daughter's voice she 'screamed' and 'broke down'. Her daughter had been fine the whole time. The family suspects the scammers used videos from the daughter's social media to accurately replicate her voice in a cruel and emotionally manipulative scam. They have reported the matter to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and urge other families to take precautions against this sophisticated high-tech scam. Ms Brightwell's daughter has launched a GoFundMe page to cover the cost of the $23,000. On the page, she wrote, that the AI cloned voice sounded 'exactly like her'. 'After you hear your child in distress, all logic is out the window. Nothing would have convinced her that wasn't me.'
The Hill
6 days ago
- The Hill
Florida woman conned out of $15K after AI clones daughter's voice
DOVER, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida woman wants to warn others after falling prey to an elaborate AI-powered scheme that used cloned audio of her daughter's voice to demand thousands of dollars in fake bond money. Sharon Brightwell told Nexstar's WFLA that the ordeal began last Wednesday when she received a call from a number that looked like her daughter's. On the other end of the line, a young woman was sobbing, claiming to have been in a car crash. 'There is nobody that could convince me that it wasn't her,' Sharon said. 'I know my daughter's cry.' The caller said she had hit a pregnant woman while texting and driving and claimed her phone had been taken by police. A man then got on the line, claiming to be an attorney representing her daughter. He told Sharon that her daughter was being detained and needed $15,000 in bail money in cash. 'He gave very specific instructions,' Sharon said. 'He told me not to tell the bank what the money was for, that it could affect my daughter's credit.' Following his instructions, she withdrew the money and placed it in a box as directed. A driver showed up to her house to pick up the package. But it didn't stop there. Sharon received another call saying the unborn child had died and that the family, described as 'Christian people,' had agreed not to sue her daughter if she provided another $30,000. That's when her grandson stepped in. He was on the phone with a family friend who quickly called Sharon directly this time with her real daughter on the line. 'I screamed,' Sharon said. 'When I heard her voice, I broke down. She was fine. She was still at work.' The family believes the suspects used videos from Facebook or other social media to create a convincing AI-generated replica of her daughter's voice. 'I pray this doesn't happen to anyone else,' Sharon said. 'My husband and I are recently retired. That money was our savings.' Now, the family is urging others to take precautions, including creating a private 'code word' to verify identities over the phone in emergency situations. 'If they can't give it to you,' Sharon said, 'hang up and call them directly.' A report has been filed with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The family also launched a GoFundMe campaign to help recover their financial losses.
Miami Herald
01-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
DeSantis budget vetoes hit some critical GOP lawmakers
Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed about $567 million in projects from the state budget Monday, including millions of dollars in initiatives sponsored by Republican lawmakers who challenged his administration. In the final hours before the state's spending plan took effect, DeSantis made cuts across the state: $14 million for a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office aircraft hangar, $1.2 million to investigate homeowners association fraud in Miami-Dade and more than $4.5 million for affordable housing initiatives in various counties. He cut another $5.7 million in funding for public radio and television stations, along with $3.1 million in pay raises for public defenders. On top of the local projects, he axed $200 million to purchase land for Florida's wildlife corridor, and another $1 million that would have gone to studying property tax relief. 'I think what you see in the budget is an example of a very fiscally responsible state,' DeSantis said during a Monday news conference in the Villages. 'We're meeting the needs of the state of Florida that I think most people want us to be focusing on.' The budget still preserves pay raises for state employees, teachers and police, and $28 million for a farmer food share program. The state's affordable housing trust funds also remained untouched, at about $235 million. It also includes $830 million to pay down state debt ahead of schedule, a DeSantis priority. 'We're not, you know, frittering it away on something,' DeSantis said of the spending. House Republicans were hit After the most contentious legislative session in DeSantis' history, state lawmakers were bracing for the governor to use more ink than usual with the veto pen. That ire appears to have been trained on just a few lawmakers. Fourteen projects in Republican Rep. Alex Andrade's Pensacola district were cut after he spent much of the legislative session investigating one of DeSantis' top priorities, Hope Florida. Much of that investigation revolved around how the Hope Florida Foundation, a state-created charity, accepted $10 million from a state settlement with a Medicaid contractor and quickly gave it away to two outside organizations, which then gave at least $8.5 million to a political committee controlled by DeSantis' then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier. Andrade has accused Uthmeier of committing federal crimes, and the State Attorney's Office in Leon County has an open probe into it. 'From what I can tell, yes, Governor DeSantis is obviously trying to punish me for investigating the theft of $10,000,000 in Medicaid funds by his then chief of staff,' Andrade said in a text message. 'I knew that heavy vetos would be his reaction as I began investigating what happened. DeSantis can't help himself.' Rep. Vicki Lopez, a Miami Republican who was outspoken against some of DeSantis' executive agency heads, saw more than half of her proposed projects vetoed, including $100,000 for a local boater safety program and $445,000 for a food access program. Other representatives who found themselves in a spat with the governor saw their projects cut. Miami GOP Rep. Juan Carlos Porras, an outspoken Trump supporter who often criticizes DeSantis, had more than half of his projects cut. Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, who ran a bill that would have kept DeSantis out of the college presidential search process, also saw about half of her proposed projects cut. Comparatively, DeSantis' allies faced seemingly less heat. Sen. Jay Collins, the Tampa Republican who is eyed as a possible front-runner to be DeSantis' lieutenant governor, got four of his nearly 50 proposed projects vetoed. Those four included $3 million for new generators for Hillsborough wastewater systems and $375,000 for the Tampa Museum of Art. Overall, South Florida projects seemed to take a hit in the veto list. Because House Speaker Daniel Perez of Miami does not file any appropriations requests himself, other members would file requests for South Florida funding projects for him. Perez and DeSantis repeatedly clashed during this session, with Perez at one point likening the governor to a seventh-grader and DeSantis attacking House leadership as a failure. A spokesperson for Perez did not respond to a request for comment. Senate President Ben Albritton declined to comment. The final total for next year's state budget, which begins Tuesday, is not clear. That's partly because the budget wasn't released, and because DeSantis — who has seen the state budget balloon by 26% on his watch — used some creative accounting to calculate the total. The Legislature's final budget, passed earlier this month, was $115.1 billion, about $500 million less than what DeSantis requested in February. But in his news release Monday, DeSantis used a different metric to calculate the total, bundling in money that his administration did not spend during the previous fiscal year. The result: In February, DeSantis said his proposed budget was $115.6 billion. On Monday, he said the final budget was just $10 million off from what he originally proposed: $117.9 billion. No study on property taxes DeSantis also vetoed $1 million for state economists to study the effects of eliminating or significantly reducing property taxes, something he has been advocating for for months. He said Monday that he's been 'nonplussed' by the economists' work. Their office, which reports to the Legislature, is known for issuing nonpartisan reports and staying out of the political fray. 'We don't need to give a bureaucracy money to study this,' DeSantis said. 'We know what needs to be done, so let's just do it.' What 'it' means is not clear, and DeSantis' spokespeople did not respond when asked for clarification. Although DeSantis has floated the idea of eliminating property taxes, he has offered no concrete proposals. Any statewide changes to property tax rates would have to be approved by 60% of voters through a ballot initiative, likely next year. Republican lawmakers said they want to propose something for next year's ballot, and Perez convened a special committee to come up with ideas. But lawmakers in both parties have balked at the idea of eliminating property taxes, warning that it could devastate local governments, especially in rural counties. Police and firefighters are the biggest expenses, on average, for city and county governments, and property taxes also heavily fund public schools. 'You're talking about a complete defunding of the government in those counties,' Rep. Shane Abbott, R-DeFuniak Springs, said during a committee meeting in May. Former Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes said pretending property taxes weren't a serious issue was 'political malpractice.' He wrote on X that his think tank, the Florida Policy Project, would study it if economists didn't. 'We need research and a plan, not the Governor's 'let's wing it and hope for the best' strategy,' Brandes wrote. 'Florida deserves better.' DeSantis also vetoed the Legislature's plan to put at least $750 million away in the state's rainy day fund, which was last accessed in 2008 during the Great Recession. Along with the line in the budget this year, lawmakers earlier this month proposed a constitutional amendment to make that annual funding permanent and to make it harder to access for non-emergency spending. 'We're in this problem because we spend all the money in our checking account,' House Budget Chairperson Rep. Lawrence McClure said earlier this month. DeSantis said he vetoed the move because he thought the amendment would not pass.
