A cloned voice can now sound exactly like someone you love. Here’s how to protect yourself anyway.
Not long ago, “that doesn’t sound like them” was a reliable way to catch a scam. That’s no longer true. For the first time in its nearly 25-year history, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center added a dedicated AI-fraud category to its 2025 annual report: over 22,000 complaints, and nearly $893 million in losses, driven by cloned voices, deepfake video, and AI-written scripts.
The good news: you don’t need to become a technology expert to protect yourself. You need one habit.
The habit that beats all of it: verify a different way
The single most reliable defense isn’t spotting a fake, it’s never relying on the call, video, or message itself to prove who someone is. Instead, verify through a separate channel you already trust: hang up and call the person back on the number you already have saved for them, or reach out to the actual organization at the number on their real website, not one given to you in the moment.
Smaller tells, when you’re looking closely
These aren’t foolproof (the best fakes keep improving), but they’re still worth knowing:
- Unnatural blinking, or none at all, in a video.
- Lips slightly out of sync with the audio.
- Lighting or shadows that don’t quite match the rest of the scene.
- A voice that’s almost right, but flat, missing the small pauses and breathing of a real call.
The scam patterns AI shows up in most
- The “family emergency” call: a cloned voice claiming to be a grandchild or relative in trouble, asking for money urgently, often by gift card or wire transfer.
- Fake job interviews: a video interview where the “employer” is a deepfake, sometimes to get you to share personal information, or pay a fake “training fee.”
- Investment and romance scams: an AI-generated profile photo or video call used to build trust before a fake “investment opportunity.” (See our free guide, *Fake Investment Offers & the Romance-to-Investment Trap.*)
Set this up before you need it
Agree on a family safe word with the people closest to you: a word only you’d know, to say if someone claims to be them in an emergency. If they can’t say it, hang up and call them back yourself.
If you think you’ve encountered one
Stop engaging right away. Contact the real person or organization through a number or method you already had before this message. Report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov or ic3.gov, and if money moved, contact your bank immediately.
Keep learning, free
Lumoset’s free courses, Using AI Tools · Level 1: Safely and Wisely and Spot the Scam · Level 1: Protecting Yourself Online, cover this in more depth, step by step. No account needed, always free, at lumoset.org.
Sources: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cryptocurrency and AI Scams Bilk Americans of Billions (2025 IC3 data: AI-fraud complaints and losses).