Wells Fargo · AI used against the institution · severity 1 of 5
In January 2023 DoNotPay chief executive Joshua Browder posted a video he claimed showed a bot, speaking in an AI-generated clone of his own voice, calling Wells Fargo customer support and getting wire-transfer fees on his account refunded, as reported by Vice's Motherboard and Futurism. Browder said the tool combined Resemble.ai, the GPT-J language model and DoNotPay's own models. Wells Fargo disputes the account: it told Motherboard its call recordings showed "the customer's call to Wells Fargo didn't happen the way it's presented in the video" and that the video appeared edited. Browder denied editing it beyond removing his account number. It was a demonstration on his own account, not fraud, and no loss was reported.
Record last reviewed Oct 21, 2026 · Markdown
Date
Jan 4, 2023 · disclosed Jan 5, 2023
Institution
Country
United States
AI system
DoNotPay voice bot · AI voice clone of the account holder driven by a language model · vendor: DoNotPay (built with Resemble.ai and GPT-J)
AI?
Described as AI by the institution or regulator
The institution, a regulator or a court called the system AI.
Category
Status
Disputed
Severity
1 of 5
Impact
No customer harm; the demonstration used the founder's own account · The claimed outcome was a refund of wire-transfer fees; Futurism quoted Browder putting the sum in dispute at $12.
What happened?
On 4 January 2023 Browder posted a video, reported by Motherboard the next day, in which he said a DoNotPay tool called Wells Fargo customer support and used an AI-generated version of his own voice to ask for wire-transfer fees to be refunded. Motherboard described the exchange as slow and unnatural, with long pauses while the bot processed the agent's replies, and said that "judging by the video" the bot secured the refunds.[1]
Browder said the tool was built from Resemble.ai, GPT-J and DoNotPay's own AI models for the script, and that DoNotPay planned to release it with generic voices and offer the user's own voice as a premium option. Futurism quoted his caption: "Over Christmas, DoNotPay managed to create an AI deepfake clone of my voice. Then, with GPT, we got the bot to phone up Wells Fargo and successfully overturn some wire fees."[1][2]
After Motherboard published, Wells Fargo said it had reviewed its call recordings and that the call did not happen as presented, adding that the recording "was edited to look like a bot was interacting with a customer service representative." Browder told Motherboard the video was not edited except to remove his account number, and that DoNotPay had called the bank "a dozen times to test the flow". Motherboard asked Wells Fargo for its recording; no recording has been published.[1]
When did it happen?
- Jan 4, 2023
DoNotPay's chief executive posts a video he says shows an AI clone of his voice getting Wells Fargo to refund wire fees.[1][2]
- Jan 5, 2023
Motherboard reports the video; Wells Fargo then says its recordings show the call did not happen as presented, and Browder denies editing it.[1]
- Jan 6, 2023
Futurism reports the claimed refund while covering DoNotPay's AI tools.[2]
What was the impact?
- Customers: No customer harm; the demonstration used the founder's own account[1][2]
- Other: The claimed outcome was a refund of wire-transfer fees; Futurism quoted Browder putting the sum in dispute at $12.[1][2]
Severity 1 of 5: Contained, no customer harm: a self-staged demonstration on the founder's own account about wire fees, with no loss to anyone, and the bank disputes that the call happened as shown.
How did Wells Fargo respond?
Wells Fargo told Motherboard: "We reviewed our call recordings, and the customer's call to Wells Fargo didn't happen the way it's presented in the video. It appears the customer's video recording of this call was edited to look like a bot was interacting with a customer service representative."[1]
What was the outcome, and did regulators act?
Unresolved: neither the bank's recording nor an unedited version of the video has been published, so whether an AI voice clone obtained the refund remains disputed. No regulatory or legal action concerning the call has been reported.[1]
Did an AI voice clone really get Wells Fargo to refund fees?
It is disputed. DoNotPay's chief executive posted a video in January 2023 that he said showed his AI voice clone winning a refund of wire fees. Wells Fargo said its own call recordings showed the call did not happen that way and that the video appeared edited; he denied editing it.
Was this a fraud against Wells Fargo?
No. It was a demonstration by DoNotPay's founder on his own account, aimed at showing an AI agent could handle customer-service calls. Nobody else's account was involved and no loss was reported; the point of interest for banks is that a cloned voice could hold a customer-service conversation.
What AI did DoNotPay use for the Wells Fargo call?
According to Motherboard, Browder said the tool combined Resemble.ai, a service for creating AI voices, the open-source GPT-J language model, and DoNotPay's own AI models for the script. Wells Fargo has not described what its recordings show beyond saying the call did not match the video.
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