When the Voice on the Phone Sounds Exactly Like Your Grandchild

In 2023, a Scottsdale mother named Jennifer DeStefano got a call from a number she didn't recognize. When she answered, she heard her teenage daughter sobbing and begging for help, followed by a man's voice demanding ransom money. Her daughter was safe the entire time, at home. The voice on the phone was a copy, built by AI software from a few seconds of audio pulled off a video her daughter had posted online.

That technology has only gotten cheaper and easier to use since 2023. Scammers can now clone a voice from as little as three seconds of audio, and they are using it on a version of one of the oldest tricks in the book, the call that sounds like your grandchild, in trouble, needing money right now. The panic in the voice is real enough to fool a parent or grandparent who knows that voice better than anyone.

This isn't a small or rare problem. In 2025, 9,834 Arizona seniors reported elder fraud to the FBI, with losses totaling $343.8 million in our state alone. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has specifically warned that AI is making these scams harder to catch, not easier.

Here is the one thing that actually works against this. Agree on a simple word or phrase with the people in your family, something a stranger would never guess, and use it to check in during any emergency call. If you get a frightening call from a "grandchild" or family member asking for money, hang up and call that person back directly at a number you already have saved, not a number the caller gives you. A few seconds of patience is all it takes to tell a real emergency from a fake one.

I built Scam-Proof Senior after Sharon and I lost a significant amount of money to a cryptocurrency scam ourselves, so I know how convincing these calls can feel in the moment. I'm not asking for anything here except this: talk to your family about a safe word this week, before you ever need it. I send one tip like this free every week at scamproofaz.com.

Pete