FIGURES
- FBI: Criminals use AI-generated audio to impersonate family members and ask for money. The FBI advises families to create a secret word or phrase to verify identity. Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, public service announcement I-120324-PSA, 3 Dec 2024, https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA241203
- US$3.5 billion: Reported lost to imposter scams in the United States in 2025; nearly one fraud report in three was an imposter scam. Source: Federal Trade Commission, press release, 15 Jun 2026, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/06/ftc-data-show-people-reported-losing-3-point-5-billion-imposter-scams-2025
- May 2025: AI-generated voice messages impersonating senior US officials; the FBI repeated the secret-word advice. Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, I-051525-PSA, 15 May 2025, https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250515

DEMAND SIGNALS (vidIQ, 25 October 2026)
- Searches for "ai scams" run at about 61,300 a month on YouTube, up 91%, and "voice cloning" at about 82,400, up 29% (vidIQ).
- A TikTok stitch telling parents to agree a code word reached 976,000 views, 8.6 times the creator's median (vidIQ).