Scottsdale mom testifies about ‘terrorizing’ AI scam
WASHINGTON D.C. (3TV/CBS 5) -- A few months ago, Jennifer DeStefano would have never dreamed of testifying on Capitol Hill, but Tuesday afternoon, the Scottsdale mom was sworn in front of senators to reveal how scammers are using artificial intelligence to target moms like her.
“Money scams have been around for thousands of years. This is entirely different. This is terrorizing, lasting trauma,” DeStefano testified. “I will never be able to shake that voice and the desperate cries for help out of my mind.”
On Your Side first introduced you to DeStefano in April. A scammer cloned her 15-year-old’s voice, then called and made her believe the girl was being held for ransom. “It was her. It was 100% her. I never questioned it,” DeStefano said. “It still shakes me. It’s still very present and very real. That’s a fear that no mother ever wants to experience.”
Our report went viral and captured the attention of Sen. Jon Ossoff from Georgia, who invited DeStefano to share her experience during a Senate Human Rights Subcommittee hearing. “You have opened many eyes across the nation,” Sen. Ossoff told DeStefano.
MIT Professor Aleksander Madry, Alexandra Reeve Givens, the CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, and Geoffrey Cain, the Senior Fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation also testified.
“Ms. DeStefano experienced something that is the worst nightmare for every parent, and I think there can be no clearer example about the threat of sophisticated scams that exist and no clearer demonstration for my colleagues here in the Senate that this isn’t a speculative hypothetical risk that only engineers and physicists can comprehend. This is a tangible risk for families across the country today,” Ossoff told On Your Side. “We have an obligation in the Senate to enact legislation that protects American families from the kinds of disgraceful attacks and scams that Ms. DeStefano was subjected to.”
It took DeStefano five minutes to track down her daughter who had supposedly been kidnapped. She was safe with her dad the whole time. “I just kept asking over and over again, ‘Are you really with dad? Are you really safe because I don’t understand what’s going on,’” DeStefano recalled. “Once I finally believed her, then I obviously got furious and then I tried to contact the police and say what can I do about this? But unfortunately, no crime was committed because no money was transferred, and I wasn’t physically kidnapped. She wasn’t physically kidnapped, so prank call, end of story. That needs to change. Otherwise, all we’re doing is we’re going to keep enabling the depths of this evil and it’s going to continue to harm people.”
Sen. Ossoff vowed to investigate what happens when scams like this are reported. “It is clear to me that what was done to Ms. DeStefano should be a crime,” the senator told On Your Side. “I think you’re going to see state legislatures and the Congress looking where they need to make changes to statute in order to protect families from that kind of attack.”
It’s never easy to share something so personal, but DeStefano says she hopes shining a light on her experience will make a difference. “I know I’m not the first story, and I know I’m not the last, unless we take action.”
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