Audio Deepfakes and Voice Cloning
AI tools can now clone a child's voice from just a few seconds of audio — typically pulled from social media — and use it to impersonate them in phone calls to family members.
Voice Cloning Scams is the use of artificial intelligence to imitate a real person's voice, which scammers can use to deceive children or families into believing a fake call is genuine.
What is this?
Voice cloning scams have grown rapidly. A perpetrator extracts audio from a child's TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram, generates a synthetic version of their voice using an AI tool, and then phones a grandparent or other relative claiming the child has been kidnapped, arrested, or had an accident — and demanding immediate payment.
How it works
Public-facing video and audio clips are the source material. Modern voice cloning models need very little audio to produce a convincing replica. The synthetic voice is then used in real-time over a phone call, with the scammer typing prompts that the AI speaks aloud in the cloned voice.
Warning signs
In your child's behaviour
- • Significant public-facing audio or video on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram (a target indicator, not a behavioural sign)
- • Receiving messages from family members confused by phone calls they thought came from the child
On their device
- • Family members reporting strange calls supposedly from the child
- • Unusual social media engagement or downloads of the child's video clips by unknown accounts
Prevention steps
Agree a family safe word
Choose an unusual word or phrase known only to your immediate family. Use it to verify identity in any phone call involving urgency, money, or distress. The voice may sound real but the safe word will not be known to the scammer.
Limit public-facing audio of children's voices
Set TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram accounts to private where possible. Avoid public videos containing extended clear speech by the child. Consider whether your child's voice needs to be in any public-facing content.
Educate family members about the scam pattern
Grandparents, aunts, and uncles are common targets. Make sure they understand that if they get a panicked call, they should hang up and call the child directly on a known number — never act on the call alone.
What to do if it happens
- 1If a relative receives a suspicious call, encourage them to hang up immediately and call the child directly on a known phone number to verify.
- 2Verify with the family safe word before any money is sent or any decision is made under pressure.
- 3Report the incident to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 — even attempted scams contribute to national intelligence and may help police track the perpetrators.
Related topics
If you need to report this
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.
Myths & facts
Myth: I would instantly recognise my own child's or grandchild's voice, so a cloned voice could never fool me.
Fact: Modern clones can be convincingly close, and a scam call is deliberately designed to stop you thinking clearly — a poor phone line, background noise, crying, and the pressure of a supposed emergency all work against you. Trusting your ear is exactly what these calls rely on. The safe response is never to rely on recognition: hang up, call the person back on a number you already have, and use an agreed family safe phrase before acting.
Myth: My child isn't famous and barely posts online, so there is no audio of them to clone.
Fact: Only a few seconds of clear speech is enough for current tools, and that can come from a short video, a forwarded voice note, a public story, a gaming stream, or a clip a friend reshares. A private account is not a guarantee, because anything a follower saves can travel further. It is worth keeping clear recordings of your child's voice off public feeds, but you should assume some audio may exist and rely on verification rather than obscurity.
Myth: Voice cloning is only used to trick relatives into sending money.
Fact: Scam calls to family are the most common use, but the same technology can fake a voice note so it sounds like your child said something they never said, and this can be used to bully, humiliate, or pressure them. If a recording like this appears, stay calm and remember that fake audio is not proof of anything and can be challenged. Keep the file, avoid sharing it on, and report it to the school, Action Fraud, or the police depending on what has happened.
Age by age
- 5-7
At this age the protection is yours to manage: keep clear recordings of your child's voice off public posts, and set up a simple family safe phrase that relatives use to check any urgent call. Make sure grandparents and other close family know that if they ever get a panicked call, they should hang up and ring you or the child back on a known number first.
- 8-10
Explain in simple terms that a voice on the phone can be faked, so a caller who sounds familiar but pushes for money or secrecy should always be checked with the family safe phrase. Keep their accounts private and continue to decide together what audio or video of them goes online.
- 11-13
Talk about how little audio a clone actually needs, so ordinary voice notes and public videos carry a small risk, and agree that anything they post publicly is a choice worth thinking about. Set the rule that any urgent request for money or secrecy gets verified through the safe phrase and never acted on alone, even if the voice sounds exactly right.
- 14-16
Discuss the fact that a fake voice note could be made to sound like them or a friend, so a recording on its own is never proof of what someone said or did. Agree that if they are ever threatened, blackmailed, or pressured with faked audio they will pause, tell you, and report it to Action Fraud or the police rather than dealing with it alone.
- 17-plus
As they manage their own accounts and money, encourage them to keep long, clean public recordings of their voice to a minimum and to keep a safe phrase with you and other close family. Make sure they know voice-clone scams and impersonation can be reported to Action Fraud, and that verifying a suspicious call by ringing back is always worth the few seconds it takes.
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