Phone Scams Get Harder to Spot as AI Impersonation Grows

Phone scams are becoming harder to recognize as criminals combine texts, calls, social media and AI-generated voices. For households, the safest response is to slow down, verify unexpected requests through a trusted channel and strengthen the accounts connected to each phone.

What happened

Americans reported losing $470 million to text-message scams in 2024, up 26% from the previous year, according to Malwarebytes Labs. The company cited estimates that as many as 98% of text messages are opened, compared with 20% of emails, making phones an attractive route for criminals.

AI is also improving impersonation attempts. Malwarebytes reported that voice phishing doubled during the first half of 2026, citing CrowdStrike research. In a Malwarebytes survey, 16% of adults said they had received a voice-cloned call that appeared to come from someone they knew during the previous year. Eighty-five percent said distinguishing scams from legitimate messages was difficult.

Scammers often create urgency and ask for money, passwords or personal information. They may also hide fraudulent websites behind links or QR codes, including stickers placed over legitimate codes in public locations.

Who is affected

Anyone who receives calls, texts or social media messages can be targeted. The risk is especially important for families because a convincing caller may pretend to be a child, parent or other relative facing an emergency.

People who reuse passwords or do not use two-factor authentication face additional danger if a fake sign-in page captures their credentials. A scammer may also impersonate a bank or familiar company to make an unexpected request appear legitimate.

What to do now

1. Verify urgent requests separately. If a caller claims to be a relative, hang up and call that person using a number already saved in your contacts. If the caller claims to represent your bank, use the number on your card or the bank’s official website—not a number supplied by the caller.

2. Create a private family code word. Agree on a word that family members can use during a real emergency, and do not share it online. CyberSec24’s family safe-word guide explains how to choose and use one.

3. Turn on automatic phone updates. Open the Settings app, find the software or system update section and enable automatic updates. Malwarebytes says current iPhone and Android software reduces exposure to security flaws that malware can exploit.

4. Strengthen important accounts. Replace reused passwords with a different strong password for every account. Use a password manager to create and store them, enable two-factor authentication where offered and choose a passkey when an app supports it.

A family password manager helps household members store and share unique passwords without reusing them.

5. Inspect links and QR codes before opening them. Check the displayed address for misspellings or an unfamiliar domain. Look for stickers or other signs that a public QR code was replaced. When uncertain, close the message and open the organization’s official app or type its website yourself. See CyberSec24’s guide to QR, toll-text and package scams for more examples.