AI Scams Are Getting Personal: How to Spot a Deepfake Call
Based on FBI public service announcements, consulted on 24 October 2026.
The old scam email had typos and a stranger's name. The new one has your daughter's voice.
In a December 2024 public service announcement, the FBI warned that criminals use generative AI to commit fraud "on a larger scale," and that the tools "can correct for human errors that might otherwise serve as warning signs of fraud."
What deepfake scams look like
The FBI lists several patterns. Three of them hit closest to home.
The family emergency call
Criminals "generate short audio clips containing a loved one's voice to impersonate a close relative in a crisis situation, asking for immediate financial assistance or demanding a ransom."
The fake boss or official on video
The FBI also warns of AI-generated video used "for real time video chats with alleged company executives, law enforcement, or other authority figures."
The voice message from someone important
In May 2025, the FBI described a campaign in which attackers impersonated senior US officials with text messages and AI-generated voice messages. The aim was to build rapport, then send a link "under the guise of transitioning to a separate messaging platform."
Warning signs (useful, but not enough)
The FBI suggests looking and listening for:
- In video: distorted hands or feet, unrealistic teeth or eyes, irregular faces, odd accessories, inaccurate shadows, lag and unnatural movement.
- In voice: tone and word choice that don't quite fit the person.
- In contact details: slight changes to names, numbers or email addresses.
Here's the hard truth. The FBI itself says AI-generated content "has advanced to the point that it is often difficult to identify," and that cloned voices "can sound nearly identical." So don't bet your savings on your ears.
The habits that beat a perfect fake
1. Hang up and call back
The FBI's advice is to verify the caller "by hanging up the phone, researching the contact of the bank or organization purporting to call you, and call the phone number directly." Use a number you already had, not one the caller gives you.
2. Agree a family safe word
"Create a secret word or phrase with your family to verify their identity." Pick something that isn't on social media. Ask for it whenever a call involves money or panic.
3. Treat urgency as a red flag
Requests for money, gift cards or cryptocurrency, especially "right now," are the pattern. The FBI says never send them to people you have only met online or over the phone.
4. Shrink your voice and face footprint
The FBI suggests limiting public content of your image or voice, making social accounts private, and limiting followers to people you know.
5. Protect your accounts
Turn on multi-factor authentication and never share a one-time code with anyone, however convincing they sound.
At work: add a second channel
The same rules scale to a small business. Any payment or bank-detail change requested by phone or video should be confirmed through a second, known channel before anyone acts.
If it happens to you
Stop contact and don't send more money. Report it to your bank and your local police. In the US, the FBI asks victims to report to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov), with as much detail as possible.
Go deeper
AI Cybercrime: The New Digital Threat explains how criminals use AI, from cloned voices to personalised phishing, and gives individuals, families and small businesses practical defences, plus a plan for when something goes wrong.
👉 Find it at bookpilot.org/books
Sources
All consulted on 24 October 2026.