By Amanda Mills
There are certain phone calls that instantly make your heart race.
Maybe it’s your child calling in tears after a car accident. Maybe it’s your husband saying he’s been hurt. Or maybe it’s your grandchild frantically asking for help because they’re in trouble.
For most of us, our first instinct would be to act and not to question whether the voice on the other end is real.
That’s exactly what worries me.
I spend a lot of time reading about emerging technology and online scams as part of my job with DE Fastlink. While I find artificial intelligence fascinating, I also know it can be used for all the wrong reasons. One of the scams that concerns me most is AI voice cloning because I immediately think about my parents and my grandmother. Would they recognize the difference? Honestly, I’m not sure I would either.
That’s what makes this scam so dangerous.
Scammers can now use just a few seconds of someone’s voice, pulled from a social media video, voicemail greeting, or other online recording, to create a remarkably convincing clone. They then use that voice to call a family member, pretending a loved one has been in an accident, arrested, or is facing some other emergency. Their goal is simple: create enough panic that you send money before you have time to think.
According to the FBI, Americans lost nearly $900 million to AI-related scams in 2025, and older adults remain the group most frequently targeted.
The scary part is that experts say our ears are no longer the best defense. AI-generated voices have become so realistic that even people who know the speaker well can struggle to tell the difference.
Instead of trusting the voice, trust the process.
If you receive a frantic call asking for money, stop. Hang up. Call your loved one directly using a number you already have. If you can’t reach them, call another family member. Never send money through gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency simply because someone pressures you to act immediately.
One of the best ways to protect your family is to create a secret code word or phrase. It doesn’t have to be complicated—just something only your family would know. If you ever receive one of these distress calls, ask for the code word. It’s a simple step that could prevent a heartbreaking mistake.
Just as important, have this conversation with your parents and grandparents before they ever receive a call. Many older adults simply don’t know this technology exists, making them especially vulnerable.
Technology will continue to evolve, and unfortunately, so will scams, but awareness is still one of our greatest defenses.
So, if you do one thing after reading this article, let it be this: have this conversation with your family. Pick a code word or phrase, and spend a few minutes talking about this scam.
I can’t stop scammers from making these calls, but I can make sure the people I love are prepared if one ever comes. That’s a conversation worth having today, not after it’s too late.