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Alleged A.I. Voice Cloning Scam; Polls on Rubio; Tony Meola is Interviewed about the World Cup. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 27, 2026 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[09:33:46]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, a California woman says she was scammed out of thousands of dollars after answering a phone call and hearing what sounded just like her panicked, crying daughter on the other end, claiming she'd been kidnaped. Problem is, the voice was not real. She believes it was A.I. generated and designed to, of course, sound exactly like her daughter.

CNN's Clare Duffy is joining me now.

We've been hearing about this for a little while, but it is one of the things that sort of terrifies me and my mom. And I always tell her, make sure that you call me if anyone calls you freaking out. She kind of knows that I probably wouldn't be that freaked out. I'd be very calm.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Sara would be very calm.

SIDNER: I'd be calm. But it is a concern for so many people now.

DUFFY: Absolutely. This is a threat really for any family at this point because artificial intelligence has made it so easy to recreate somebody's voice with even just a few seconds of audio that you could pull from social media or an earlier scam call where somebody's voice was recorded. So, this is happening to people across the country. And in the case of this California mom, she received a call she heard at first what sounded like a man's voice saying, I have someone you want to talk to. And then she heard what sounded like her adult daughter's voice.

Take a listen to how she described that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This male voice said, who is this?

[09:35:01]

And I said, well, who is this? And he said, someone that you need to talk to. It was my daughter's voice having an absolute panic attack, trying to

breathe, scared, telling me that, you know, I'm -- I love you, mom. I'm so sorry. I'm so scared. And then they just cut it off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: And you can imagine, this is any parent's worst nightmare. The scammers on the other end of the line demanded that this mom wire thousands of dollars to multiple accounts, which she did. And only after did she call her daughter. Her daughter immediately answered and she was at work like normal.

SIDNER: Oh.

DUFFY: But you can understand how somebody gets tricked in this very scary moment.

Now, how these A.I. voice cloning scams work is, as I said, scammers can pull just a few seconds of audio from the internet or somewhere else, create this replica of someone's voice, and then they make a phone call that sounds like somebody has been kidnaped, or they're at the police station. You hear your loved ones voice on the other end of the line sounding distressed. And scammers will often urgently demand thousands of dollars. And that is how people get caught up in these kinds of scams.

SIDNER: What are some things that you can do to think about if something like this were to happen to you?

DUFFY: Yes, experts say there are a couple of things that are really important. The first is just staying calm and taking a deep breath, which can be really difficult in a situation like this, but scammers will often play on people's fear, play up this sense of urgency.

It's also important to try to contact your loved one through another method so you can stay on the line with this caller, but you could text your loved one, if there's another phone in the house you could try to call them from another line. Call somebody who knows where they are. Try to get a sense of whether your loved one is in fact just at work like normal.

And another important idea for families to have a conversation prior to something like this happening and establish a family code word. Make this something that is not online anywhere, that nobody else would know. Have this conversation either in person or over the phone so that this code word is not written down but so that you could ask somebody for this code word if a situation were -- like this were to happen and confirm whether it is, in fact, your loved one on the other end of the line.

SIDNER: This is just awful. I'm not a violent person, but it makes me want to punch the scammers in the face. This is a horrible thing to do to any family anywhere.

DUFFY: And it is an increasingly significant problem. Americans, last year, lost $893 million to A.I. related scams. So, that includes voice cloning scams, but also things like phishing emails and romance scams. This is something that people really have to be on the watch for.

SIDNER: It's really awful, but it's good you're reporting about it, Clare Duffy, to warn us all. Thank you so much. Great reporting.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up ahead, five people trapped in a flooded cave for a whole week, and they have been found alive. We have new video coming in.

And welcome back to the neighborhood, Mister Rogers. The Postal Service announces that they will reissue popular Mister Rogers stamps. What will that look like? You can see them.

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[09:42:35]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, it is officially May of 2026, but it's never too early to talk about November of 2028. Presidential election politics. And CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten is here.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Why is this man smiling?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Why is this man smiling? Because his chances to be the Republican nominee in 2028 are up like a rocket taking off from Cape Canaveral.

Look at this. OK. According to the Kalshi prediction market, look at this, chance that Rubio's the 2028 presidential nominee for the Republicans. It was just 11 percent back at the beginning of this year. Look at this, up like that rocket I was mentioning from Cape Canaveral. It's up now to 30 percent chance. That is nearly three times the chance that it was at the beginning of the year. All of a sudden the people who are putting their money where their mouths are, are really liking Rubio's chances, compared to the beginning of the ,year that he will, in fact, be the Republican standard bearer come 2028.

BERMAN: That's a big change in a relatively short period of time.

ENTEN: That's a huge change.

BERMAN: So, of course, to become the Republican nominee, you've got to win in the Republican primary. So, how do Republican voters feel?

ENTEN: This, to me, is one of the more interesting stats that I have brought you, because just take a look at the different Republican officials that are, you know, in the Trump administration. Look at this. The net approval rating. Guess who has the highest net approval rating? It's Marco Rubio at plus 77 points. That beats J.D. Vance, the VP, at plus 69. It beats Pete Hegseth who's at plus 63. Way ahead of Kash Patel, who's at plus 49.

You just see it here. Marco Rubio, simply put, is the most popular Republican in the Trump administration besides the president himself and also the most popular member, if you zone in a little bit more, of the cabinet as well. So, part of what the prediction markets are following is the actual polling data, which shows that Marco Rubio is really, really, really popular with Republicans at this point.

BERMAN: Of course, with people looking at here mostly, I would say, is the difference between Rubio and J.D. Vance.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: Who, you know, for a long time has been seen as the frontrunner, and probably still is. Nevertheless, Rubio more liked among Republicans. What about overall?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, you see this Republican edge right here. But I think part of the argument that Marco Rubio would make is that he's more popular than the other Republicans. He could actually win in a general election.

And what you can see here is, again, who's the most popular person in the Trump administration among the officials? Look at this. It's Marco Rubio running well ahead of the pack here. Yes, he's under water but not by that much.

[09:45:02]

Pretty much all politicians these days are underwater. And he's nearly ten points more popular than J.D. Vance is. And certainly way more popular than Hegseth or Patel is.

BERMAN: OK, so say Secretary of State Rubio isn't the Republican nominee. What are the chances or what are the prediction markets saying he ends up with some other gig?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. He could be the VP nominee. The chance that he's the VP nominee in 2028, 24 percent chance. He's the market leader on this one. So, either way, you add the 24 with the 30, there's a greater than 50 percent chance that he's, in fact, on the Republican ticket come 2028.

BERMAN: I do think it's interesting that the prediction markets are saying that he has a better chance of being the presidential nominee than the vice presidential nominee.

ENTEN: It is true at this point. Those numbers have flipped.

BERMAN: Very interesting.

Harry Enten, again, it is May 2026, but never too early.

ENTEN: Never too early. I'll be on either side of the ticket with you.

BERMAN: Fantastic.

Got a lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

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BOLDUAN: So, there is this new -- it's just wild video of the moment that rescuers found five people alive after they had been trapped in a flooded cave for a week. This is in Laos. But two others, they are still missing. And that search for them still continues. And for the survivors who they've already found, getting out of the cave is not going to be easy. To get to them, rescuers had to navigate in more than 1,000 foot tunnel, super narrow in spots. The villagers went into the cave last Wednesday in search of gold, but then heavy rain triggered flash flooding, which blocked their exit. Amazing.

There's also new video of a massive wedge tornado ripping across north central Mexico as dangerous storms just swept the region. Luckily, it was a lightly populated area but quite an impressive sight. No major injuries or damage reported.

And then there's the Postal Service bringing back a friendly face to a neighborhood near you. A stamp of the legendary Mister Rogers won the Postal Services Encore Contest, voted on by fans to bring back the postage first issued in 2018. The reissued Forever Stamp is part of the Postal Service's 250th anniversary celebration will go on sale nationwide June 1st. The president of Fred Rogers Productions reflected on the honor, saying this, "when people use this stamp, we hope it serves as a small, daily reminder of Fred's enduring belief in the inherent worth of every human being."

John.

BERMAN: All right, World Cup fever. Fifteen days until the games begin. And though the U.S. roster was actually leaked nearly a week ago, now it is officially official.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you have it, New York City. There you have it, United States. There's your 26 man roster for this summer's FIFA World Cup.

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BERMAN: All right, with us now, soccer hall of famer, World Cup veteran, U.S. legend, Tony Meola, one of the greatest keepers of all time.

It's great to have you here in the studio.

TONY MEOLA, NATIONAL SOCCER HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE: My pleasure. Yes, thanks for having me.

BERMAN: And, you know, you were captain in '94, the '94 team, right? The '94 World Cup was here in the United States. These guys going through the same thing. What's it like to play a World Cup on home soil?

MEOLA: Yes, look, every player dreams about playing in a World Cup. And very few have the chance to do that. Just think about how few have the chance to play at home in a World Cup. And with this particular team, which is a little bit different from '94, there's a huge expectation on this group, right? In 1994, the sport was relatively new. There were new faces in the group. People were learning about that particular group. This group is pretty well known for the most part, right? Play major clubs around the world. Bringing a huge coach with a huge name. Mauricio Pochettino. And I think there's a little bit more pressure on this particular group than there was in 1994. But certainly playing at home should be a massive advantage for the group.

BERMAN: What would you tell them in terms of a warning? Like, hey guys, I've done this. This is what you have to look out for?

MEOLA: Yes, what I've told -- I've had the chance to speak to quite a few of them. And, of course, they know the magnitudes of the games and how you have to win the first game and get points out of that at least and -- in order for you to progress through the tournament. What I tried to explain to them is, there's someone today that doesn't, as you and I speak, that doesn't know Christian Pulisic. There are millions after the next month that will know him forever. And someone will come up to you -- I can't believe it's 32 years ago, right, that '94 happened, but unfortunately it is. Someone 20 years ago -- 20 years from now will say a Christian or a Timothy Weah or a Flo (h) Balogun, one of these guys, and they'll say, your group turned me on to the game, right? And you'll make a massive impact in this country on a -- on an entire sport.

BERMAN: I mean that's the thing about World Cups too, isn't it? I mean, you remember almost every minute from every game almost forever. It's really incredible. I remember the '94 run you guys had. And it was so different. I mean you made it out of the group round and you advanced. And there you were playing against Brazil, right? What was it like to play against a team where just no one thought you had any right to even be on the field, let alone have a chance?

MEOLA: Yes, look, we played the eventual winners, right, in our knockout group, and we had to get to that point. And we did well enough to get to that point.

I recently did a documentary about Romario, who scored a goal in that. And they showed me a clip. And they said, I want you to react to this clip. And it was him explaining how that was the toughest game for Brazil in the World Cup. And I thought to myself, OK, I'm not into like any consolation prizes, if you will, but hearing if Romario really meant that we made an impact on the world stage.

[09:55:04]

That people said, hey, look, this particular group can actually play. I hope that's what we get now with regards to not only can this group play, but we can compete with just about anybody in the world.

BERMAN: Predictions for the U.S. team.

MEOLA: Oh, I knew you were going to go there. Look, I've used 2002 as my barometer. BERMAN: Quarterfinals.

MEOLA: Quarterfinals of the World Cup. And if the soccer gods were good to us, we'd have been in a semifinal of a World Cup.

BERMAN: You deserved to be.

MEOLA: Yes, I think we did. We were the better of the two teams. But, you know, that doesn't always get you to win in the end. We lose 1-0 to Germany.

So, I use the quarterfinals that it's that or bust for me for this group.

BERMAN: What about overall prediction for a winner of the World Cup?

MEOLA: Oh, boy. I think the favorite becomes France, right, immediately, or Spain as well. Those are two that I think we need to look out for.

BERMAN: How do you feel about the ticket prices?

BOLDUAN: Asking for a friend.

BERMAN: Yes.

SIDNER: Yikes.

MEOLA: Yes, asking for a friend. Yes, look, I get it. It's a problem. Unfortunately in the U.S., we have zero control over that. That's all done by FIFA. It's all organized by FIFA. Essentially they're coming in and renting stadiums here, Mexico and Canada. And, yes, I don't like them if I'm being frank with you.

BERMAN: You can be frank with us. I'll be frank with you. I think it's crazy. It's so hard to get a ticket you can afford to the World Cup.

Tony Meola, it's such a joy to get to speak with you.

SIDNER: So cool.

MEOLA: My pleasure. Thanks.

BERMAN: I loved watching you over the years.

MEOLA: Thanks, guys.

SIDNER: Can I ask you one last thing? And our producers are going to kill me.

MEOLA: Of course.

SIDNER: But how do you deal with injuries? Because John and I have --

BERMAN: We're hurt today.

SIDNER: We're hurt.

BOLDUAN: As professional athletes.

SIDNER: As nonprofessional --

MEOLA: Maybe we can get a two for one on the knee replacement that I need, OK.

SIDNER: Done.

MEOLA: How about that?

BERMAN: You earned it. We did.

SIDNER: Thank you for being here.

MEOLA: Thanks, guys.

SIDNER: And thank you for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "SITUATION ROOM," up next.

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