Phone Scam

Phone Scams Take Sinister Twist as Victims' Voices Cloned

Criminals are using AI technology to clone people's voices and set up unauthorised direct debits over the phone. The advanced cloning is part of an organised criminal operation that harvest people's personal data to target victims with a wave of scam and nuisance calls.

The process begins with a so-called ‘lifestyle survey’ phone call - seemingly harmless, but in fact designed to gather detailed personal, health and financial information. The criminals use this data to develop AI-generated voice clones used to simulate consent for direct debits, deceiving even legitimate businesses and financial providers. These details appear then to be passed or sold to other criminal operations who, with the details, can work around the banks security measures and set up payments without the victim's knowledge. Victims often do not realise payments are being taken.

The details are revealed as new data that show that:

Louise Baxter, Head of the National Trading Standards Scams Team, said:

“What we're seeing is a deeply disturbing combination of old and new: traditional phone scams supported by disturbing new techniques. Criminals are using AI not just to deceive victims, but to trick legitimate systems into processing fraudulent payments. This is no longer just a nuisance - it's a coordinated, sophisticated operation targeting some of the most situationally vulnerable consumers in society. We urge everyone to speak to friends and relatives about scam calls, check bank statements regularly and report anything suspicious.”

If you spot a payment or instrcution you did not authorise, call your bank straight away, ask them to cancel it and raise a refund claim.

Then report it to Report Fraud immediately at reportfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040