This research, conducted in the cybercriminal underground, reveals the dark side of AI and how it is being used to aid extortion scams. The speaker will share the details of a 2023 virtual kidnapping attack in Arizona to highlight the main elements of these schemes and how malicious actors are using social engineering tactics, AI voice cloning tools and ChatGPT to launch these attacks. The session will consider how new technologies could potentially help or hurt virtual kidnapping scammers, how to recognize an attack, and how to protect yourself and others.