The kind of scam Jamie puts the kibosh on in this episode is all too real

The kind of scam Jamie puts the kibosh on in this episode is all too real

What Jamie Reagan goes through in “On the Ropes” is a microcosm of what real people have been forced to deal with thanks to voice impersonation scams. In March, The New Yorker reported that there’s a brand-new digital scam floating about in which callers impersonate kidnappers, even cloaking their phone number to resemble that of a family member or friend. Using AI voice technology, a loved one’s voice is simulated. Sometimes, they have been kidnapped, and sometimes, they have had a medical emergency or been in an accident.

Typically, the “kidnappers” demand fairly small amounts of money or personal information like credit card numbers and checking account information in trade for the “release” of the loved one. Naturally, the person in question is safe, and the scammers can use the information to drain accounts, run up credit card bills, and generally become nuisances to their targets. The official website of New York City notes that some scammers might even use AI to generate pictures of public figures or of a target’s loved ones to add further credibility to the scam.

While Jamie gets justice by the end of the episode, hundreds of average Americans likely aren’t as lucky. To read more about the weekly adventures (or misadventures, in many cases) of the Reagan family, be sure to check out the untold truth of “Blue Bloods.”