A deeply concerned California mother gave $5,400 to scammers who had used artificial intelligence to pretend that her daughter had been abducted in Mexico and was on the brink of getting murdered or sold. Deborah Del Mastro was eating breakfast on the morning of May 14 when she received an unexpected phone call from an unknown number. A man on the other end of the line told Del Mastro he was 'someone you need to talk to' and claimed her daughter Sarah Donalds, 37, had been kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel. Donalds had supposedly been abducted after seeing something that she was not meant to see, and the man had proof for the increasingly concerned mom.
Mother's Ordeal
'It was my daughter's voice having an absolute panic attack, scared, telling me 'I love you, mom, I'm so sorry, I'm so scared' and then they just cut it off,' Del Mastro told ABC 7. She followed the caller's commands for the next five hours as he told her not to speak to anyone and when to send the money. In total, Del Mastro sent $5,400 to Mexico from multiple locations before being told her daughter would be released at the Walmart in Pittsburg, about 30 minutes east of the city of Martinez. When Del Mastro arrived and did not find her daughter, she called Donalds directly, who picked up right away and told her mom she was at work.
Once her daughter confirmed she was okay, it dawned on Del Mastro that she had been scammed. 'God, I couldn't believe it,' she told the outlet. 'And then I did believe it.' Still, Del Mastro insisted that she was ready to do 'anything' to protect and save her daughter. 'I hear my daughter's voice sobbing, trying to breathe, having a panic attack,' Del Mastro told Good Morning America. The distraught mother said that her mouth dropped when she heard whom she believed was her daughter pleading. 'I'm so sorry, mom,' the voice said. 'I am so scared. I'm so sorry.'
FCC Warning on AI Scams
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has warned that scammers around the US are increasingly using AI to emulate voices known to people in order to steal money and personal information. One of the listed scams was an unsuspecting family member being told that their younger relative is in trouble. 'Reach out to that person directly to confirm they need help before sending any money,' the FCC said.
Del Mastro urged people to not answer random phone calls and added that her family now shared their respective locations with one another. 'Let our horrible experience be a warning to all of you, you know, so that you will question this because I didn't question it at all,' she said. Fraud schemes using AI content caused more than $893 million in losses last year, according to the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report.
'I am a Navy veteran, and I'm usually very good in a crisis and I totally, totally believed this guy had my daughter,' Del Mastro said. Martinez police are investigating the case, according to ABC 7. Del Mastro created a GoFundMe after what she called the 'absolute worst day of [her] life,' hoping to recover some of the lost money. She explained that she did not have the 'intuition that something was wrong' because she had heard her daughter's voice.
'Even later in the process, the criminal had me speak to 'my daughter' to tell her (he dictated what I could say or else...) that the nightmare was nearly over and that we'd get her soon,' Del Mastro wrote. The AI version of her daughter's voice told her, 'I'm so sorry, mom. I love you.' The criminals allegedly told Del Mastro they would sell her daughter if she did not give them $20,000, but 'probably realized that he couldn't get any more money from us.' 'I have no idea how this criminal connected me to my daughter's voice,' Del Mastro said. 'It is a frightening reality now.' The Daily Mail has reached out to Del Mastro and the Martinez Police Department for comment.
