How to Talk to Your Parents About AI Scams
A respectful way to bring up AI voice-cloning scams with your parents, the four things to cover, and how to make the plan stick.
Bringing up scams with your parents can feel like telling them they can't take care of themselves. They can. The problem is that a cloned voice can fool anyone, at any age. Start from there and the conversation gets easier.
Lead with "this could fool me too"
Try: "I read that scammers can copy anyone's voice from a short video now. It could fool me. Can we set up a plan so none of us gets tricked?" You're asking for teamwork, not giving a warning.
Cover four things
- A family safe word. Pick it together, in person. Anyone who calls asking for money has to say it. How to set one up.
- Hang up, look up, call back. If a call feels urgent, hang up and call the person back on the number already in the phone.
- The red flags. Rush, secrecy, and payment by gift card, wire, cryptocurrency or a courier picking up cash.
- Who to call. Put your number, and one backup person, on a card by the phone. Make it OK to call you about anything, any time.
Make it easy to remember
- Write the steps (not the safe word) on a card for the fridge.
- Practice once: you call, sound worried, and they ask for the word. It feels silly. It also sticks.
- Bring it up again at the next holiday. One talk fades.
Help with their accounts too
While you're together, check that their email has two-step login turned on and that they aren't reusing one password everywhere. Email comes first, because whoever controls the email can reset every other password.
If they've already been targeted
Thank them for telling you, and keep blame out of it. Shame is why people hide scams until it's too late. If money went out, call the bank right away and report it at ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
The AI Scam Shield has a full "Talking to Your Parents About AI Scams" section, a printable safe-word card and a scam-call script for the phone.