Investigators identify source of deepfake robocalls simulating Biden's voice before NH primary
wcvb.com
On Tuesday morning, Formella stepped up to a podium and announced the calls came from Life Corporation and Walter Monk of Texas.
On Tuesday morning, Formella stepped up to a podium and announced the calls came from Life Corporation and Walter Monk of Texas.
I've spent a few minutes trying to figure out who Life Corporation and Walter Monk are. Walter Monk may be an "entrepreneur" in Texas, but that isn't clear to me. What is clear is that "Life Corporation" has been incorporated since 1995 and has no internet presence as far as I can tell.
This is shady as fuck before you even get to the illegal stuff.
https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/arlington/profile/advertising-agencies/life-corporation-0825-95110149
https://www.linkedin.com/in/waltmonk?
Oh that's interesting. Not sure how that didn't show up in my search. I had to log in to my ancient LinkedIn account to read it, but I'm glad I did, because...
Thank you.
Edit: I should have hilighted this part too, because again, SKETCHY AS FUCK.
We would amuse ourselves by dressing like ghosts with pointy heads, and burning spare lumber after nailing it together in an X
1527 S Cooper St is something called TextToSurvey. I'm guessing Life Corporation, if it ever actually existed, is dead in all but name.
All things considered, that's a pretty quick setup for a long-running operation on foreign territory. Couldn't have been easy when it's only been about four years since the collapse of the USSR.
See my full paste from the LinkedIn page @DrQuickbeam found, but here's the key part:
He never says who they are. Very suspicious.
Good find by Quickbeam, thanks for copying it over. Kinda sounds like some of the language used in MLM pitches.
https://mycpa.cpa.state.tx.us/coa/
Search for "Entity Name" of "Life Corporation". From there, you can get a list of corporate leadership. CEO (when searched on linkedin) shows the CEO is also a CEO of:
It seems to be all surrounding a call-center. It all fits.
Texas, wow, never would have imagined that. And they got caught, surprised again.
The quarter from your ear must really blow your socks off then, every time!
Anyone else remember when the KKKonservatives said that democrats canβt win fairly?
Starting to think that might have been projection.
Always has been.
Republicans: "We're cheating and still lost, so they have to be cheating more!"
Walter Monk and Life Corporation, a Texas-based company, have been identified as the source of fake robocalls that impersonated President Biden, according to New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella[1][3][4][5][6]. The robocalls, which used a voice that sounded like President Biden's, were intended to discourage voting[4]. The calls were traced back to Life Corporation and Walter Monk using 'tracebacks' through an entity known as the Industry Traceback Group[1].
Life Corporation is owned by Walter Monk[4][5]. A subsidiary of Life Corporation, Voice Broadcasting Corp., which identifies Mr. Monk as its founder, has received numerous payments from the Republican Partyβs state committee in Delaware, as well as payments from congressional candidates in both parties[4].
The calls were routed through a provider called Lingo Telecom[4][5][6]. After being informed that the calls were being investigated, Lingo Telecom suspended services to Life Corporation[1][5][6].
The Attorney General's office has opened a criminal investigation and issued a cease-and-desist order to Life Corporation[1][4][5][6]. No charges have been filed against Walter Monk as of the current date, but the investigation is ongoing[5].
Citations: [1] Texas-based group, Walter Monk were source of fake President Biden robocalls to NH voters, AG says https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/texas-based-group-walter-monk-were-source-fake-president-biden-robocalls-nh-voters-ag-says/YIVPQJDLPBADFEC6ESR5Z455CM/ [2] Walter Monk - Wholesale Communication | LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/waltmonk [3] AI-generated Biden calls came through shady telecom and Texan front 'Life Corporation' | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/06/ai-generated-biden-calls-came-through-shady-telecom-and-texan-front-life-corporation/ [4] Texas Company Was Behind Voter Robocalls That Impersonated Biden, N.H. Says https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/us/politics/biden-robocall-new-hampshire.html [5] Fake Biden robocalls in New Hampshire linked to 2 Texas companies, AG says https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/new-hampshire-primary-joe-biden-fake-robocall-investigation-update/ [6] Fake Biden robocall traced to Texas-based Life Corp, officials say https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-hampshire-attorney-general-fake-biden-robocall-traced-texas-based-life-corp-2024-02-06/ [7] Authorities target two firms in probe of AI robocalls impersonating Biden before New Hampshire's primary https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/authorities-target-two-firms-in-probe-of-ai-robocalls-impersonating-biden-before-new-hampshires-primary [8] Fake Biden Robocall Traced to Texas-Based Life Corp, Officials Say https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-02-06/new-hampshire-attorney-general-fake-biden-robocall-traced-to-texas-based-life-corp
When robocalls/texts affect the rich and powerful, it gets investigated. When the entire population has been complaining about it and getting scammed for years, no one bats an eye.
Not sure how hard it would be, but if it's possible the FCC really needs to get telecom companies to secure their systems to prevent number spoofing.
The telecom system is so shitty.
Isn't that what STIR/SHAKEN was supposed to do?
They really wanted that acronym to sound cool. To be fair SBHAIUT doesn't sound as good.
Maria Hill: Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. And what does that mean to you?
Ward: It means someone really wanted our initials to spell S.H.I.E.L.D.
Sadly it became annoyingly complicated and manual with number porting. Previously you could have just implemented βwe own these blocks, this isnβt in our block, drop the callβ but with number porting there are a lot of one offs to track. Not saying they shouldnβt do it, but number portability screwed with things.
If only there were some sort of way to automate handling a whole lot of numbers...
It's not even that many numbers when the entire list could fit in memory on a modest computer.
I was just irate today at the sheer amount of ads that are shoved in my face all fucking day.
Email ads. Phone call ads. Text ads. TV ads. Post mail ads. And there's nothing I can do about it.
I called one of the mailers. Got a receptionist. Told her I wanted to opt out. She transferred me to a number and I immediately got a voicemail. Called back immediately. She didn't answer. Call back again. She said I needed to talk to this person who was not in their office. Said she used to be able to do it but then they told her she couldn't anymore. How convenient. I told her if I get another mailer I'm going to light it on fire and throw it inside their fucking office door, and then I hung up.
Sure you can. Stop watching TV, use adblockers, and for the actual snail mail, yeah, that's a harder one, but doable.
This may be luck and based on your location, but I tried placing a "No fliers please" post it on my mailbox, and it seems to have stopped all fliers.
Yeah I don't consider moving into a cave a solution but you go on ahead.
Oh please do share
Lol that's called TV addiction! I was like you and now I am free.
I'm assuming you're talking about actual TV viewing, right? Like broadcast TV and cable TV?
For snail mail, there are organizations that can help you with that. I can't remember their names off the top of my head, but a quick search should help you.
No.
I've spent more time than I should have searching and come up empty.
Ok, what "TV" are you watching that has ads, then? Like, Hulu free or something?
The FTC has some tips. Some of them require paying a processing fee like $4, and it "stops it for 10 years," which is totall bullshit, but eh. I guess it's better than nothing:
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-stop-junk-mail
Did that. Nothing happened. Just a scam. If you look into that company it's just a big advertising conglomerate.
Well shit!
I'm sorry, are you rich or a politician? No? They don't care enough to do anything.
Will it be some shady right-wing political operative?
Answer: I don't even need to read the article. I can just comment and move on.
They issued cease and desist orders to the company.
How about you fucking raid the company and shove the big dick of the law up his ass? I'm so fucking tired of these republican scumbags getting a pass or being treated with kid gloves.
I understood that the FCC just now ruled such activity illegal? Or interpreted is as illegal under existing laws and regulations? My details may be off.
Yeah, where's the swat team breaking down these fucks' doors and murdering people in their beds? I mean, they know how to do that, and they've got plenty of experience.
I think the failure was that nobody claimed there were black people working there. That would have brought out the violence.
Absolutely horrible stuff. Another example of how AI can insidiously reproduce someone's voice or likeness and turn it against them with no moral consequences. AI is perhaps the biggest danger to the world today, even ahead of nuclear arms.
That these criminal and illegal robocalls were coming from Texas is no surprise, as it's no doubt the work of some ill-educated sick and socially demented idiot who hates leftists or liberals or any kind of updated progressive thinking. Texas is looking more and more like the #1 refuge of internal terrorists and mentally ill cultists. Very sad.
I wouldn't blame all of Texas it's a big state with a lot of different people. Casting judgement against the whole state seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater to me.
That said I've got a feeling we'll learn a whole lot about Mr. Monk in the coming days. And I agree that AI generated disinformation is going to present an increasing threat to democracies around the globe. It'll be interesting seeing how this type of attack gets combated.
To be fair, the majority of residents in red states are hateful selfish losers that lack even the smallest nugget of empathy. The average Christian American sees empathy as a weakness and character flaw.
How much poop has to float in your bath water before you throw it out? Seems like we have a never ending stream of turds coming from Texas - is there ever enough shit? Or is there no limit?
Meh... give TX back to Mexico.
Poor Mexico π’
I would be very unsurprised to learn that some of Texas' state leadership was involved in this. Maybe you consider it to generalizing for the public, but the Texas governor is already illegally relocating migrants to attack liberal cities. I wouldn't be surprised if elections in Texas were neither free nor fair, but there is still a sizable majority that are supporting ratfuckery and electing public officials that represent that desire. If we're already blaming the Texas government, it's really not that much further to blame the state as a whole.