Archdiocese denouncing fraud with artificial intelligence that mimics a bishop

The Archdiocese of Seville (Spain) has alerted the Brotherhoods and Brotherhoods of a scam attempt through the use of artificial intelligence that simulates the voice of the auxiliary bishop Mons. Antonio de León.

The delegate of Brotherhoods, P. Marcelino Manzano, has sent in recent days a notice to the Brotherhoods: “I have had a record of an attempt to scam a brotherhood of the capital in which a voice was passed through the auxiliary bishop Teodoro Leodoro Leodoro, imitating her perfectly,” he explains In a message disseminated by the archdiocese.

Fr. Manzano suspects that the scammers used “an application or an artificial intelligence resource”, through which they requested “an urgent shipping of money for a management that would even benefit the brotherhood.”

This could know firsthand after the older brother of one of the brotherhoods, with whom he maintains a great friendship, called him to corroborate the petition. “This older brother with very good criteria, given the strangeness of the petition, and despite the fact that the voice was very similar and very recognizable, he had the cunning of calling me on the phone,” said the Episcopal delegate.

Then, Fr. Manzano recalled “a message that a few months ago sent us D. Ramón Valdivia, the other auxiliary bishop, to the priests preventing us that there were criminals who were trying to cheat parishes and convents, getting through the bishops with their voice and asking for a series of money.”

“Fortunately, in this case it has not gone to adults, but well, there is that danger and we have to be prudent,” concluded the priest.

These types of scams are increasingly common in the ecclesiastical environment in Spain. In recent years, similar cases have been denounced in the Dioceses of Gerona, Ávila, Cartagena, Barbastro-Monzón, Madrid, Bilbao, Segovia and Orihuela-Alcentro.

There have also been similar cases in the Diocese of Cúcuta (Colombia), that of Tepic (Mexico) or in the Archdiocese of Panama (Panama), among others.

Spanish Caritas complaint

Last week Spanish Caritas denounced another scam attempt Through Facebook “to obtain data from citizens fraudulently and using the name and image of our institution in exchange for false financial help.”

Cáritas Español has made the corresponding complaint with the National Police and contacted the social network “to request the elimination of this content” and study other legal actions.

The scam consisted of attracting people with the hook of receiving 300 euros of economic aid from Cáritas, for which they first had to enter their data on a website.

Caritas “strongly asks people who have received this message that do not share it with anyone through any channel (social networks, WhatsApp, Telegram, …)” and advises to consult the official channels of the institution to ask for any help.