AI voice cloning: check it is really your loved one
An AI-cloned voice is obtained from a few seconds of recording taken from a public video. On the phone, it announces an accident, an arrest, an immediate need for money. You cannot tell by ear: the only reliable check does not go through the voice, but through what the real caller alone knows at that moment, their two TrustWords words.
By Sébastien Secrecy · Updated on
How does a voice cloning scam unfold?
The call. A familiar voice, in tears or out of breath: “Grandma, it’s me, I had an accident.” The number on the screen is unknown, or spoofed to look right. The first name is often given by you first.
The excuse. “My nose is broken”, “I’m at the police station”, “they took my phone”: the excuse explains the slightly different tone and the urgency. Then you are passed to someone else, a lawyer, a police officer, who no longer has to imitate anyone.
The lock. “Don’t hang up”, “don’t tell anyone, I’m ashamed”. The FBI counted 893 million dollars of AI-related losses in 2025; distress calls from a fake loved one are part of it.
Why you cannot trust your ear
Three seconds of recording are enough for today’s tools (McAfee study “The Artificial Imposter”, 2023), and the raw material is public: a voice message, a video on a social network, a clip from a video call. The one clue that remained, “his voice sounds odd”, is turned into proof of distress by the accident story.
A photo or a video proves nothing more: they can be fabricated too, including live.
What to do during the call?
- Do not give the first name. Let them talk: an impostor takes the identity offered.
- Ask for their two TrustWords words without saying yours. If they are on your screen, it is them.
- If not, give nothing, write down what they say needs sorting out, and hang up yourself.
- Call your loved one back on their saved number, from your phone, never on the number of the incoming call.
- If they say they are being held or threatened, hang up and call the emergency services: the app shows those of your country.
A family safe word that changes every ten minutes
The FBI and the FTC recommend a code word agreed within the family. TrustWords is the version of it that is never forgotten and never wears out: two words derived from a secret shared once, face to face, renewed every ten minutes on both phones, never transmitted. A cloned voice can do nothing about it: it does not know what your loved one is reading on their screen.
Frequently asked questions
Is a family password enough?
It is better than nothing, and it is what the FBI and the FTC advise. But a fixed word gets forgotten, gets said once too often in front of the wrong person, and never changes. Words renewed every ten minutes meet the same need with nothing to remember.
What if the person says they do not have their phone?
Then they cannot give you their two words, and you cannot verify: treat the call as unverified. Write it down, hang up, call back their saved number. A real loved one will understand; that is even the point.
The voice really was theirs, I am sure of it
That is exactly what victims say. Certainty by ear has not been proof since 2023. The proof is what an impostor cannot have: the two words of the moment, or a call you make yourself.
Sources: FBI, Internet Crime Report 2025; FBI, The grandparent scam; FCC; McAfee study “The Artificial Imposter”, 2023.