The phone rings at 9:30 at night. It is your grandson. He is crying. There has been a car accident, he is at the police station, he needs bail money, and please do not tell Mom and Dad.
It sounds exactly like him. His voice. The way he says “Grandma.” Even the little catch in his throat.
It is not him.
This scam has been circulating for years. What is new is the technology behind it. With a few seconds of audio taken from a birthday video or a social media post, software can now produce a convincing copy of almost anyone’s voice. The old “grandparent scam” depended on a bad phone connection and a frightened listener filling in the gaps. Now the voice itself does the work.
The Numbers Are Staggering
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, people over 60 filed more than 201,000 complaints in 2025 and reported losses of more than $7.7 billion. Losses rose 59 percent in a single year. The average loss for an older victim exceeded $38,000, and at least 12,400 older adults lost $100,000 or more.
The FBI received more than 3,100 complaints from older adults that specifically referenced artificial intelligence, with losses above $352 million. That figure almost certainly understates the problem, because most victims never realize a machine was involved at all.
Why Good, Smart People Fall for It
Before law school I worked as a social worker and family counselor, and what I learned in that work still holds. These scams do not succeed because people are foolish. They succeed because they use love as a lever.
The caller manufactures panic, demands secrecy, and insists on speed. A grandmother who would never hand a stranger a dime will empty a savings account within the hour to protect a grandchild. Isolation makes it worse: the person who lives alone, who does not want to be a bother, and who has no one to call for a second opinion is the ideal target.
Simple Steps That Work
Agree on a Family Code Word
Choose a word or phrase that only your family knows, and never post it anywhere. If a grandchild calls in distress and cannot produce the word, hang up. The FBI recommends this, and it is remarkably effective against a caller who has your grandson’s voice but not your family’s history.
Hang Up and Call Back
Call the person directly at a number you already have. Real emergencies survive a two-minute callback. Scams usually do not.
Know the Red Flags
Requests for gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, or cash handed to a courier are almost always fraud. So are the two phrases that accompany nearly every one of these calls: do not tell anyone, and you have to act right now.
Name a Trusted Contact at Your Bank and Brokerage
Most financial institutions now allow you to designate someone they may contact if they suspect financial exploitation. It costs nothing, it does not give that person any authority over your money, and it gives the institution someone to call before the money is gone.
Where the Power of Attorney Comes In
When fraud happens, speed is everything. Funds can sometimes be frozen or recovered if the bank acts within hours or days. They are almost never recovered after weeks.
A durable Power of Attorney names someone you trust who can step in immediately: speak with the bank, freeze accounts, change credentials, work with law enforcement, and help clean up the damage. Without one, the family is left on the sidelines. Banks will not discuss an account with a son or daughter who has no legal authority, no matter how obvious the fraud is to everyone in the room. I have written more about that document in Why Do I Need a Power of Attorney? and in our Survival Kit.
There is also a quieter benefit. When an older adult knows that a trusted person is already involved in their finances, they have someone to call before sending money. A great many scams fall apart at exactly that moment.
A caution: a Power of Attorney is a powerful instrument, and it must be given to the right person. Choosing your agent carefully, and building in appropriate safeguards, is part of what we do when we draft one.
Set a family code word tonight, and tell the grandchildren.
Hang up and call back at a number you already have.
Never pay by gift card, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or courier.
Put a durable Power of Attorney in place, and name a trusted contact at your bank.
If It Happens to Someone You Love
Call the bank or card company immediately. Report the fraud to the FBI at ic3.gov and to your local police. In Pennsylvania, suspected financial exploitation of an older adult can also be reported to the county Area Agency on Aging. Then call us. We can help protect what remains and put the right documents in place so that it does not happen again.
And please, do not let embarrassment keep anyone quiet. If having this conversation with a parent feels awkward, our article on having “the talk” may help. The people who run these operations are professionals who rehearse this for a living. Being fooled by them is nothing to be ashamed of. Staying silent afterward is what costs families the most.