A documented change of scale
In 2026, the FBI introduced a dedicated "AI-related" descriptor into its IC3 complaint center — an official acknowledgment that these scams now form a category of their own. In the very first year of this classification: more than 22,000 reports, for nearly $900 million in losses.
On the voice side specifically, Pindrop's (a voice-security specialist for call centers) 2025 Voice Intelligence and Security Report measured a 1,300% rise in voice deepfake fraud attempts in 2024, and estimates call centers' potential exposure at roughly $44.5 billion in fraud for 2025.
A documented case
In early 2024, an employee at a multinational company was deceived by a video conference entirely populated by AI-generated participants, impersonating several of the company's executives — to the point of authorizing a $25.6 million transfer. The case was documented by Hong Kong police and widely covered by specialist press.
Why it's different from a classic phone scam
A fake-bank-advisor or fake-tech-support scam relies on a script and the scammer's conviction. A scam powered by generative AI can additionally reproduce a recognizable voice — that of a relative, a boss, a child — reconstructed from existing recordings (public videos, shared voicemails). A franceinfo investigation measured what this actually takes: several minutes of good-quality audio for a convincing result, not a few seconds as some articles have claimed. This makes the usual verification reflex ("I recognize their voice") less reliable than it used to be — but mostly for people whose voice is already widely available online, such as a publicly-speaking executive, more than an average individual.
Frequently asked questions
What is a voice deepfake?
A synthetic voice generated by artificial intelligence, trained to imitate a real person's voice — a relative, an executive, an advisor — from existing recordings. Contrary to popular belief, this actually requires several minutes of good-quality audio, not a few seconds.
Does the FBI really track AI-related scams?
Yes. In 2026 the FBI introduced a dedicated "AI-related" descriptor in the complaint classification of its IC3 center: more than 22,000 reports and nearly $900 million in losses in the very first year.
Can you protect yourself from a voice deepfake?
The best reflex is still to verify through a second channel (call back a known number, send a message) before taking any urgent action requested by phone. Egidio also identifies known scam patterns, regardless of how realistic the voice sounds.
Also documented on television
These scams have also been the subject of dedicated investigative reporting by established broadcasters — bibliographic references below, no replay links since they rot over time.
📺How con artists use AI to target parents and grandparents
An ethical hacker cloned a correspondent's voice from a short broadcast recording to demonstrate how easily the "grandparent scam" can be upgraded with AI, alongside interviews with people who lost money to the same scheme. Note: a franceinfo investigation later measured what this kind of demo actually requires — several minutes of good-quality audio for a convincing clone, not a few seconds, and the segment doesn't specify the exact length of the recording used.
CBS, 60 Minutes, "How con artists use AI, apps, social engineering to target parents, grandparents for theft" — 2023.📺A mother targeted by a fake-kidnapping AI voice scam
A report on a family who received a call using an AI-cloned voice to simulate a kidnapping in progress — a tactic built to bypass the instinct to "recognize" a familiar voice.
ABC News, "Mom targeted by alleged AI voice scam that falsely claimed daughter was kidnapped" — 2023.🇨🇦A grandmother nearly scammed by her "grandson's" AI-cloned voice
CBC's investigative program Marketplace documented how an AI-cloned voice, convincing enough to make a senior believe her grandson was calling from custody, is part of a broader upgrade of the classic "grandparent scam" now sweeping Canada.
CBC, Marketplace, "Her grandson's voice said he was under arrest. This senior was almost scammed with suspected AI voice cloning" — 2025.🇦🇺A reporter's own voice cloned to scam her colleague, on air
Working with cybersecurity firm CyberCX, Nine's 60 Minutes had a reporter's voice cloned by AI from an old recording, then used the clone in a live spoof call to a colleague requesting passport details — a demonstration of how convincingly the technology can now impersonate someone a victim knows.
Nine Network, 60 Minutes Australia, "Scamdemic" — 2023.Other markets we cover
The Hong Kong video-call case above isn't an isolated data point. Here's what's documented in four other major English-speaking markets.
🇦🇺Australia — an AI voice targeting a Melbourne IT consultant
In August 2024, Melbourne IT consultant Sam Mitrovic was targeted by a multi-layered scam that began with a fake Gmail account-recovery alert, followed by phone calls using a strikingly realistic AI-generated voice. He recognized the pattern and avoided losing money — but noted the voice itself no longer carried the tell-tale signs (accent, script stiffness) that used to expose these calls.
Information Age (ACS), 2024.🇬🇧United Kingdom — $243,000 wired after a cloned CEO voice
A UK-based energy firm's chief executive was called by what sounded exactly like his German parent company's CEO — an AI-cloned voice, accent and speech pattern included — and instructed to urgently wire $243,000 to a Hungarian supplier. The transfer went through before the fraud was caught.
Trend Micro / Wall Street Journal reporting, widely documented case.🇨🇦Canada — nearly CA$3 million lost to cloned grandchildren's voices
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported that Canadians lost nearly CA$3 million in 2024 to "grandparent scams" upgraded with AI voice cloning — calls that reproduce a grandchild's voice closely enough that seniors in Saskatoon, Regina and elsewhere transferred money believing they were bailing out a relative in trouble.
Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, cited by CBC News, 2024-2025.🇮🇳India — deepfake videos of Narayana Murthy and Mukesh Ambani
In Bengaluru, a retired employee named Ashok Kumar lost ₹19 lakh after seeing a deepfake video of Reliance chairperson Mukesh Ambani promoting a trading platform; another resident, Veena, invested after viewing a similar deepfake of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy. Both cases used AI-generated video and voice of real public figures to lend false credibility to investment schemes.
Reported by DQIndia / regional press coverage, 2024.Go further
Egidio — The Threat Laboratory, "Generative AI & voice deepfakes: next-generation fraud", egidio.app/en/laboratoire/generative-ai-voice-deepfakes/. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
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