AI Voice Clones and the Family Emergency Call

How scammers use AI to clone a loved one's voice, and the family safe word that protects you.

You get a call. It is your grandson's voice, scared, saying he has been in an accident and needs money right now, before you can think. It sounds exactly like him. It might not be him at all.

Scammers can now copy, or "clone," a person's voice using artificial intelligence (AI), a computer program that can learn to sound like someone else from just a few seconds of their real voice, often pulled from a video posted online. The voice on the phone can sound completely real and still not belong to the person you think is calling.

Before an emergency ever happens, agree on a family safe word, a word or short phrase only your real family knows, that anyone can ask for during a worrying call. A scammer's cloned voice will not know it.

This is rule two from lesson one, applied here: never trust caller ID or the voice itself. Always hang up and call back on a number you already have, saved from before the call, not one the caller gives you.

Rule to remember: a voice on the phone can be faked, even a loved one's, so always hang up and call back on a number you already know, and agree on a family safe word in advance.