The AI Voice Clone Family Emergency Scam: The Voice Was the Last Thing They Had to Fake
The FTC documented this call in 2018, before voice cloning. A federal indictment describes the scripts, the couriers and the gag order — and never mentions AI.
How each scam actually works
Each page here takes one lure and follows it end to end — the opening message, the pressure, the payment, and where the money goes. Every figure names its source, and each page links to the identifiers people actually reported for that lure.
All breakdowns
- Family emergency
- Home service
The Air Duct Cleaning Scam: The Problem Was Never There
The EPA says duct cleaning has never been shown to prevent health problems, and does not certify anyone. One sentence makes them show you what they found.
- Government impersonation
The Kiosk Only Takes the Cash
FBI complaints involving crypto kiosks reported over $388 million in losses in 2025. How a caller's script ends at a Bitcoin ATM.
- Forced-labour fraud
Cambodia's Scam Compounds: The Ledger That Named the Floors
Prosecutors say the man who ran Cambodia's scam compounds kept a ledger recording which floor ran which fraud, filed by the victim's nationality.
- Celebrity giveaway or endorsement
Celebrity Crypto Giveaway Deepfake: How It Works
A verified channel, a famous face and an offer to double your crypto. How the celebrity giveaway deepfake works, with FBI, NYDFS, Google and NYT figures.
- Pig butchering
Six in the Evening, Dubai Time
Inside Dubai scam centers, from FBI sworn statements: a night shift for U.S. victims, a pay sheet, a copied script, and a fee that never ends.
- Bank impersonation
The Fake Bank Fraud Alert: The Charge Was Never Real
The text asks you to reply YES or NO. Replying is not the mistake — the call ninety seconds later is. The FTC says you probably won't get it back.
- Fake tech support or virus alert
Fake Microsoft Security Alert: The Phone Number Is the Scam
A full-screen Microsoft security alert with a phone number is an advertisement, not a warning. Microsoft says its error messages never include a number.
- Free prize or giveaway
Free Prize Scam: Why 'Just Pay Shipping' Is the Scam
Why strangers give away a free PS5 or iPhone and then ask you to cover shipping. The advance-fee prize scam explained, with FTC, FBI and BBB figures.
- Fake software support
The Password Came From Them
Plea agreements say fake software support told an 82-year-old woman to buy about $250,000 in gold bars. Court records show who sent the courier to her door.
- Offshore shell company
One Hundred and Seventeen Companies That Do Nothing
Scam networks hide money in companies that do nothing. The US Treasury counted 117 of them in one network, most offshore shells with no real activity.
- Scripted chat
How Scammers Chose Their Targets: The Instructions in the Filing
Victims were not chosen, they were allocated. Prosecutors allege the accounts were bought in bulk years earlier and the rooms assigned by nationality.
- Crypto investment
Sixty-One Million Dollars, From One Phone Call
One report to a federal tip line ended with $61 million in Tether frozen. Who holds the switch that stops stolen crypto, and what freezing does not do.
- Fake support call
Spending It Took a Crew
Prosecutors say a crew took $245 million in crypto from one man. Court records describe how stolen crypto became cash, club bills and cars in other names.
- Government impersonation
Four Callers, One Script
The caller who tells you that you are a suspect is reading a script someone else wrote. A federal affidavit lays out all four of its phases, in order.
- Investment or crypto trading fraud
Pig Butchering Scam: How the Wrong-Number Text Works
How the pig butchering scam turns a wrong-number text into a crypto account you can never withdraw from, with FBI, DOJ, Chainalysis and UN figures.
- Loan identity theft
The Name on the Loan
A $290,795 PPP loan was made in the name of someone who never applied, an indictment says. How names end up on loans, and the mail to watch for.
- Refund
The Refund That Came Back in a Box
A plea agreement estimates about $64 million in loss from roughly 2,000 cash packages sent to fake names. How a refund scam ends in a box.
- Sadness bait
The Sob Story Scam: The Sadness Is the Advertisement
A stranger's tragedy attached to a checkout button. The face belongs to an 84-year-old tailor who never agreed to be in it, and his wife is not sick.
- Virtual kidnapping
Virtual Kidnapping: The Ransom Call Where Nobody Has Been Taken
The FBI says virtual kidnappers have not kidnapped anyone. The screaming is usually a recording, and the caller gets the name from you. One question ends it.
- Pig butchering
The Money Was Already Gone
Prosecutors traced one victim's crypto: gone within the hour, pooled with 19 other victims' money and Huione Pay coins. Where it went next.
- Investment fraud aftermath
The Line for the Money
When the government seizes billions from a fraud, the victims are not the only ones in line. A live federal docket shows who else filed, and who goes first.
- Fund recovery
Eight Pages, One of Them Yours
No judge, no hearing. The DOJ's own form, rule and manual show who reviews a petition for remission, what they check, and how long it takes.
- Fake trading app
The Shop Window and the Till
The site that sells the investment and the app that holds the money have unrelated names on purpose. An FBI affidavit shows the design, and the check.