"Mum, I'm in trouble": when the voice you hear isn't your son's
A call from a strange number, a relative's voice crying and asking for money now. The voice can be cloned by software from a few seconds of audio on social media. The answer is to hang up and call the
Kansel2 min read
The scenario
11 at night. A call from an unsaved number. A crying voice: "Mum, I had an accident, I'm at the police station, I need money now." Then another man takes the phone: "Your son is with us. Send 20,000 to this wallet within the hour." Or a calmer version: "I'm in hospital and I don't have my phone, send it to this number."
What fools people isn't the story. It's the voice. Voice-cloning software can now produce a convincing copy of anyone's voice from a few seconds of audio: an Instagram video, a voice note sent to a group, a clip from a party. And it copies the dialect too.
How to recognise it
- Pressure and secrecy: "don't tell Dad", "there's no time", "if you don't send now, something will happen".
- Money to a wallet or in recharge cards, rather than "come to the station" or "call the lawyer".
- A short call that keeps cutting out, so you can't ask questions.
- A strange number, and the relative's "phone broke" or "was taken".
What to do in the moment
- Hang up and call them yourself on their known number. If they don't answer, call someone near them: a friend, a sibling, their workplace. A voice is not proof of who is speaking.
- Ask something only they would know. The cat's name, what happened last summer. A cloned voice can't answer.
- Agree a family code word now. One word; if someone says they're in trouble and can't say it, it's a scam call.
- Never send money to wallets or cards whatever the situation. If it's real, there is a police station, a hospital and a lawyer, and none of them collects on a wallet.
- Report the number in Kansel and file a police report if there was a threat.
Protection before it happens
- Keep family social accounts private, and send fewer voice notes in public groups.
- Don't talk at length to strange numbers: "Hello? Who is this?" and nothing more. The longer you talk, the longer the recording they can take.
