AI voice clone used to impersonate archbishop and solicit donations
Fraudsters used artificial intelligence to clone the voice of Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo of Mérida-Badajoz and made telephone calls to parishioners requesting donations for supposed religious and social campaigns. The Archdiocese publicly warned of the scam and advised people not to provide financial information to such callers.
What happened
The Archdiocese of Mérida-Badajoz warned on 26 July 2025 that fraudsters were using artificial intelligence to clone the voice of Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo in telephone calls.
The callers used public data combined with AI voice cloning to impersonate the archbishop and solicited donations for supposed religious or social campaigns.
Reported impact
Parishioners received telephone calls requesting money transfers or donations, sometimes claiming urgent Church or social aid purposes.
The Archdiocese stated that it never solicits economic assistance by telephone or through digital or telematics means.
Index analysis
The fraud relied on combining publicly available information about the archbishop with synthetic voice technology to create convincing impersonations.
Governance controls
The Archdiocese advised citizens not to respond to such calls, not to provide personal or banking data, and to report attempts to police authorities.
The Archdiocese requested that the faithful inform it of any detected scam attempts to aid prevention and take appropriate measures.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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