The Aporia · Police Say Scammers Used AI to Clone a Sheriff’s Voice

Scammers in Florida used artificial intelligence to clone Osceola County Sheriff Steve Moser’s voice and left a deceptive voicemail for a resident, impersonating him to trick people into believing they are communicating directly with law enforcement. This incident highlights an escalating trend of scammers using AI voice cloning technology to mimic police officers across multiple states, including Georgia and Pennsylvania, where similar scams have been reported recently. While these latest scams specifically involve AI voice cloning, earlier incidents involved impersonators who mimicked the voices and tones of local police without explicit use of AI tools.

Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-19, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

Story summary

Scammers used artificial intelligence to clone Osceola County Sheriff Steve Moser's voice, leaving a convincing voicemail that tricked residents into believing it was him calling about missed jury duty or outstanding arrest warrants. This incident occurred in Florida, with similar scams reported recently in Georgia and Pennsylvania. According to Florida news outlet News6, impersonating a police officer is a third-degree felony in the state. The use of AI voice cloning technology has been on the rise for several years, allowing scammers to create highly convincing audio imitations that target individuals across various demographics.

Written for “AI Scam Involving Sheriff's Voiceclone” on 2026-10-19, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

📰 AI Scam Involving Sheriff's Voiceclone

Crime & Law · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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404 Media · 142 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected

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Samantha Cole

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A Florida police department claims that scammers used AI to clone a sheriff’s voice, with scammers increasingly using voice clones that trick people into thinking they’ve missed jury duty or have a warrant out for their arrest are increasing. uncertain

they → claim → arrest

According to Florida news outlet News6, scammers cloned Osceola County Sheriff Steve Moser’s voice and left a voicemail with a resident. uncertain

scammers → accord → resident

“They cloned his voice and was using Steve’s picture as well to say it was him making the phone call, and it was not,” Sheriff Chris Blackmon told News6. asserted

Blackmon → clone → News6

Impersonating a police officer is a third-degree felony in Florida. asserted

Impersonating → impersonate → Florida

The Osceola County sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. asserted

office → respond → comment

This particular scam cloning cops is spreading across several states, with reports of jury duty and arrest warrant scams targeting people in Georgia and Pennsylvania in the last week. asserted

reports → clone → week

These other reports don’t mention AI voice cloning explicitly, but note that the scammers sometimes have similar voices and tones as local police officers. asserted

scammers → mention → officers

Voice cloning scams have been around for years, with scammers using commercially available AI voice impersonation tools to target the elderly, families, and businesses. asserted

scammers → use → elderly

Last year, 404 Media investigated real-time deepfake scams that incorporated voice and video to defraud people. asserted

that → investigate → people

In 2024, we reported on the ways scammers cloned celebrity voices and use AI videos in YouTube ads to scam people. asserted

scammers → report → people

Scammers often impersonate company executives or leadership to trick employees into sending money, and voice cloning appears to be an increasing part of that. asserted

cloning → impersonate → that

In February, scammers cloned a managing partner of a law firm with AI. asserted

scammers → clone → AI

Ultimately, a private bank ended up transferring $108 million. asserted

bank → end → million

Police Say Scammers Used AI to Clone a Sheriff’s Voice

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