phone scams 2026

A mother heard her daughter sobbing on the phone after an accident. It was
an AI clone built from public video. In 2026, cloning a voice takes three
seconds of audio, the attack that stole 25 million dollars from a Hong Kong
firm now costs under 50 dollars to run, and FTC deepfake complaints have
risen 1,200 percent. Here is exactly how these scams work and the small set
of defences that still beat them.