US: Fake robocall of Joe Biden urges voters not to vote at New Hampshire primary

New Hampshire [US]: Ahead of the presidential primary on Tuesday, a ‘fake’ robocall reached out to New Hampshire residents, which appears to be an AI voice resembling US President Joe Biden could be heard advising against voting and instead saving the vote for the November general elections, CNN reported.

“Republicans have been trying to push nonpartisan and Democratic voters to participate in their primary.

What a bunch of malarkey,” says the digitally altered Biden voice, which appears to be AI-generated.
“We know the value of voting Democratic when our votes count. It’s important that you save your vote for the November election. We’ll need your help in electing Democrats up and down the ticket. Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again,” it added.

The application rates the number of calls, which were first reported by NBC News, as “severe,” among its highest ratings for calls.

Nomorobo CEO Aaron Foss said that their data showed that 76 per cent of the robocalls targeted New Hampshire, with 12 per cent directed at Boston and the remaining 12 per cent covering other areas. They estimated that the number of these fraudulent calls ranged from 5,000 to 25,000.

Notably, Biden’s name will not appear on the ballot in the upcoming New Hampshire primary on Tuesday over a dispute between the state and the Democratic National Committee, which voted to move the New Hampshire primary out of its traditional first-in-the-nation position. As a result, there is an organised effort to write in Biden’s name, CNN reported.

“This matter has already been referred to the New Hampshire Attorney General, and the campaign is actively discussing additional actions to take immediately. Spreading disinformation to suppress voting and deliberately undermine free and fair elections will not stand, and fighting back against any attempt to undermine our democracy will continue to be a top priority for this campaign,” Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, said in a statement.

Aaron Jacobs, a spokesperson for Write-In Biden, said in a statement, “This is deep fake disinformation designed to harm Joe Biden, suppress votes, and damage our democracy,” adding that the group remains “focused on one goal until polls close on Tuesday: encouraging Granite Staters to write-in Joe Biden.”

At the end of the call, the voice of an unknown male directs listeners to call a local New Hampshire number to be removed from future calls.

The call uses spoofing — a common practice in fraudulent robocalling which manipulates caller ID information to display a false phone number — obscuring the true identity of the caller, CNN reported.