How AI Phone Scams Work (And What to Do If You're Affected)
Phone scams are nothing new, but a recent report from National Trading Standards highlights a shift in how they work.
How AI Phone Scams Start
It begins with an unsolicited phone call asking the individual to take part a “lifestyle survey”. It’s seemingly harmless, but is designed to gather personal, financial, and health information. This voice data is then used to develop an AI-generated voice clone to impersonate the victim and consent to authorising direct debits - often without the account holder's knowledge. Because this voice cloning tool uses real voice data, the output can be quite convincing, even deceiving banks.
Research published by National Trading Standards this year shows just how widespread phone fraud has become.
UK adults receive 7 scam calls or texts per month
*on average
1 in 5 receive scam calls or texts most days
Almost 1 in 10 receive them every day
How to Report Unauthorised Payments
An unauthorised payment is when a cybercriminal has carried out payments using your account without your knowledge. If this has happened to you, or someone you know, there are steps you can follow:
Report the scam to the police and Report Fraud.
Report the scam to your bank’s fraud team.
Your bank has 15 days to investigate the unauthorised payment and respond with a decision on reimbursement. There are three possible outcomes from this:
Full reimbursement.
No reimbursement.
50% reimbursement.
If you do not get a full reimbursement and believe the banks response was unfair, you can escalate this to Financial Ombudsman Services.
Read our money recovery guide for more information