The Martinez woman said a caller used a cloned voice that sounded like her adult daughter.
MARTINEZ, CA — A Bay Area mother said scammers stole $5,400 from her in May after using artificial intelligence to mimic her daughter’s voice during a fake kidnapping call that kept her under pressure for about five hours.
Deborah Del Mastro said the call began with an unknown number and quickly turned into a ransom demand. The caller claimed her 37-year-old daughter, Sarah, had been taken by a Mexican drug cartel. The case is part of a wider fraud pattern in which criminals use cloned voices, altered images or other digital tools to make families believe a loved one is in danger.
Del Mastro said a male caller first asked who she was, then told her he was “someone you need to talk to.” She said the caller claimed Sarah had seen something she should not have seen and had been kidnapped. Then, Del Mastro said, he played audio that sounded like her daughter in panic. “It was my daughter’s voice having an absolute panic attack, scared,” Del Mastro said. She said the voice told her, “I love you, mom, I’m so sorry, I’m so scared,” before the audio stopped. Del Mastro said she believed the voice was real and feared her daughter would be killed if she did not follow orders.
The caller kept Del Mastro on the phone and gave rapid commands, she said. He told her not to speak, asked if anyone was with her and ordered her to get dressed and leave. Del Mastro said the pressure lasted about five hours. During that time, she went to several locations and wired money to Mexico. She said the total was $5,400. The caller then told her Sarah would be released at a grocery store. When Del Mastro arrived and could not find her daughter, she called Sarah directly. Sarah answered and said she was at work. Del Mastro said that was when she realized no kidnapping had happened.
Authorities and fraud experts describe the method as a form of virtual kidnapping, an extortion scheme in which criminals claim to have a hostage but do not. The fraud often depends on fear, isolation and speed. In Del Mastro’s case, the caller used what she believed was proof that Sarah was in danger. Erin West, who works with Operation Shamrock, said scammers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to clone voices from short recordings. Those recordings can come from public videos, social media posts or earlier calls. West said the technology has made old ransom schemes more convincing because families may hear a voice they know.
The FBI has warned for years that virtual kidnapping scams can target people far from any actual crime scene. More recent federal warnings say criminals are also using altered photos and videos as fake proof of life in ransom scams. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported 859,532 complaints of suspected internet crime in 2024, with reported losses of $16.6 billion. Voice cloning is not limited to kidnapping claims. Federal consumer officials have said scammers also use copied voices in family emergency schemes, business impersonation calls and other demands for fast payments.
No public arrest has been announced in Del Mastro’s case. It was not immediately clear whether investigators had identified a suspect, traced the wire transfers or recovered any of the money. Fraud cases involving overseas payments can be difficult to unwind because money can move quickly through multiple accounts or pickup points. The key investigative questions include where the call came from, how the scammers obtained or created the daughter’s voice, who collected the money and whether the same group has targeted other families in California or elsewhere.
Del Mastro said the experience left her shaken because the voice sounded like her daughter in a moment of terror. “God, I couldn’t believe it,” she said after learning Sarah was safe. “I mean, I couldn’t believe it. And then I did believe it.” Her account matches the pattern described by investigators and consumer agencies: a sudden call, a threat, a familiar voice, instructions to stay on the line and a demand for money before the target can check the claim. In this case, the final proof came only after Del Mastro reached Sarah herself.
The case remained a reported fraud as of Monday, with no kidnapping and no announced recovery of the $5,400. The next milestone is any update from law enforcement on whether the payment trail or phone records lead to a suspect.
Author note: Last updated May 25, 2026.