- One in four Americans says they have received fake voice calls in twelve months
- Spam calls are increasing rapidly, averaging almost ten spam calls per week.
- AI allows scammers to clone voices with minimal effort
New research has raised serious concerns about the rise of deepfake voice fraud, as more consumers report encountering suspicious calls imitating familiar voices.
A new survey conducted by Hiya of more than 12,000 consumers in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany and Spain suggests that these incidents are no longer rare or isolated.
The report found that one in four Americans received a fake voice call over the past twelve months, and another 24% said they were not sure they could reliably distinguish between an artificial voice and a real person during a phone call.
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Spam calls continue to expand
The report argues that the increasing availability of generative AI tools has accelerated what it calls the “weaponization of AI.”
“Fraudsters are weaponizing AI to clone voices and steal from vulnerable people, and the bad guys are simply moving faster than legacy network defenses. We can’t expect regular people to outsmart AI alone,” said Alex Algard, CEO and founder of Hiya.
“We are in an arms race where fraudsters use AI as a weapon, which means traders have to use AI as a shield.”
Scammers now imitate voices with much less effort than before, and these spoofing attempts often involve family members or trusted contacts.
This can lead to financial fraud or identity theft when victims believe they are responding to a legitimate request.
American respondents reported receiving an average of 9.9 unwanted calls each week, which equates to more than 500 calls each year.
These calls target seniors (55+), who lose an average of $1,298, three times what younger adults lose; The volume of this scam has increased at a compound annual rate of 16% since 2023.
About 48% of Americans say spam calls are getting worse, outnumbering those who report improvement by about three to one.
The trend appears in several countries included in the survey. Consumers in the six markets reported receiving an average of 7.4 unwanted calls per week.
French respondents reported the highest volume of unwanted calls, while British respondents reported the highest financial losses among scam victims.
In all this, what are telecom operators doing? This is the fundamental question that consumers have been asking.
When asked who is winning the current fight between traders and scammers, respondents chose the scammers by a ratio of almost two to one.
This perception can also affect customer loyalty. About 38% of users say they are likely to switch providers if they feel their current provider cannot protect them.
Many users (72%) are now calling for stricter government regulations requiring telcos to respond to these types of AI-powered scams.
Some respondents also believe that operators should share responsibility for scam losses originating on their networks.
About 67% of users support some level of financial responsibility, while 55% favor zero liability protections similar to those used by credit card companies.
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