Thai PM Paetongtarn says nearly fell for foreign leader phone scam

Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra almost fell victim to a phone scam using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to impersonate a foreign leader's voice, she said on Wednesday.

The PM, the youngest daughter of telecoms billionaire and ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said she received a message in a voice sounding identical to a well-known leader, without identifying the person. "In the clip, he said he was looking forward to seeing me and working together," she said.

She missed a call from the same number during the night, before a second voice message the next day aroused her suspicions.
"The voice said Thailand is the only Asean country which has not yet made a donation — when I heard that, I thought 'this is not right'," she said.

A text message asking for money to be sent to a bank account outside Thailand soon followed, confirming her doubts.
"I knew it for sure when I saw that," she said. Paetongtarn did not say when she received the messages.

So-called "call centre scams" are common in Thailand, in which fraudsters impersonate police, government officials or bank staff — often using automated "robocalls' to make the first contact.

Paetongtarn, 38, last week declared more than $400 million in assets to Thailand's anti-corruption commission.

Her father Thaksin — who once owned Manchester City football club — has a net worth of $2.1 billion, according to Forbes, making him the 10th-richest person in Thailand.

Agence France-Presse