The kitchen-table talk

Some of the most important security work happens at home, over coffee or dinner, with no technology involved at all. The FTC puts it simply on its family emergency scams page: talking about scams is one of the best ways to protect yourself and the people you love.

This guide is for that conversation. It covers two kinds of AI-assisted scams that reach families: fake emergency calls aimed at parents and grandparents, and sextortion aimed at young people. Neither topic is comfortable. Both get much easier once everyone knows the plan.

Why now

Scammers have always pretended to be a grandchild in trouble. What AI changes is how real it can sound. In a December 2024 public service announcement, the FBI warned that criminals use AI to create short audio clips that mimic a loved one's voice, then pose as that relative in a crisis to ask for immediate money or a ransom. The FTC warned about the same tactic in March 2023, noting that a scammer may need only a short clip of someone's voice from content posted online.

Older adults report the largest losses to online fraud overall. The FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report counts 201,266 complaints from people aged 60 and over in 2025, with reported losses of about $7.7 billion, up 59% from 2024. Most of that comes from investment and tech support scams, not fake family emergencies. For the voice-clone "distress" scams specifically, the same report counts more than $5 million in reported 2025 losses. That figure is almost certainly an undercount, since the report itself notes that many victims do not realize AI was involved, and many people never report at all.

Young people face a different risk. The FBI received more than 75,000 sextortion reports in 2025, according to the same report, and referred more than 5,700 involving minors to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Back in June 2023, the FBI warned that criminals were using AI tools to turn ordinary photos, often taken from social media, into fake explicit images to harass or extort people, including minors.

Talking with parents and grandparents

Start from respect. Older relatives are not the problem, and many of them already know more about scams than we assume. Frame it as something the whole family is doing together.

A few points to cover:

• Voices can be faked now. The FTC's advice is short: don't trust the voice. A call that sounds exactly like a grandchild is no longer proof that it is them.

• We will never pressure you for money. The FTC suggests calling the older people in your life to tell them you would never pressure them to send money or buy gift cards. Say it directly. It gives them permission to hang up.

• Hang up and call back. If a call claims someone is hurt, arrested or kidnapped, hang up and call that person on a number already in the phone. If they don't answer, call another family member.

• Know the red flags. Requests to wire money, send cryptocurrency or buy gift cards and read out the numbers are classic signs of a scam, according to the FTC.

• Secrecy is a warning. "Don't tell Mom" or "don't tell anyone" is something scammers say. Real family emergencies do not need to be kept secret from the family.

It helps to role-play once. Let your parent take the "scam call" and practice hanging up and calling back. It may feel silly. That's fine, and it builds the habit that matters under stress.

Talking with kids and teens

With young people, the goal is to make sure they come to you if something goes wrong. That means leading with reassurance before rules.

The FBI's 2025 report describes how sextortion usually works: it often starts when a young person believes they are talking to someone their own age who is interested in a relationship, or someone offering something of value. Once the criminal has an image, real or AI-generated, they threaten to share it unless the victim pays or sends more. The report notes that shame, fear and confusion often stop victims from asking for help.

So say the most important thing out loud: if anyone ever threatens you with a picture, real or fake, you will not be in trouble. Come to us, and we will handle it together.

Then cover the practical points from the FBI's June 2023 announcement:

• Anything public can be copied and altered. Be thoughtful about which photos go on public profiles, and set accounts to private.

• Be careful with new online contacts, especially anyone who pushes for photos or a video chat quickly.

• Don't pay. The FBI advises never sending money to unknown people and warns that complying does not guarantee the content won't be shared.

• Keep the evidence. Save usernames, messages and screenshots rather than deleting everything in a panic.

• Report it. In the U.S., report to the FBI at ic3.gov or to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. NCMEC's free Take It Down service helps stop the sharing of nude or sexual images taken of someone before they turned 18, without the image ever leaving their device.

Keep the tone matter-of-fact. You are not accusing your child of anything. You are giving them a plan before they need one.

What to agree on as a family

Finish the talk with a few agreements everyone can remember. Here is a checklist to copy onto the fridge or into a family chat:

1. We have a code word. Pick a secret word or phrase together, as the FBI recommends, and never post it anywhere. Anyone in real trouble can give it in seconds. Our code word guide shows how to set one up.

2. We hang up and call back. Any frightening call about money gets checked on a number we already have.

3. We never send money in a rush. No wires, crypto or gift cards to anyone based on one call, text or video.

4. We never share login codes. Not with "the bank," not with "tech support," not with anyone.

5. Secrets are a red flag. Nobody in this family will ask you to keep an emergency secret from the rest of us.

6. Nobody gets in trouble for asking or for making a mistake. If something goes wrong, we tell each other fast and fix it together.

7. We report it. Scams get reported to ReportFraud.ftc.gov or ic3.gov, and we tell the bank right away if money moved.

The FBI's December 2025 alert on virtual kidnapping scams, which use doctored photos as fake proof that a relative has been taken, reinforces the same habits: agree on a family code word, recognize that the urgency is a pressure tactic and try to reach the person directly before paying anything.

Keep it going

One talk is a great start. A quick check-in a few months later is even better. Share a scam story you saw in the news and ask, "What would we do?" Let the kids quiz the grandparents on the code word, and the grandparents quiz the kids.

If someone in your family has already been caught by a scam, be gentle. These schemes are built by professionals to exploit love and worry, and the people who fall for them are usually acting out of care. The best thing a family can offer is a soft place to land and a plan for next time.

Sources

• Federal Trade Commission, "Family Emergency Scams," undated: FTC consumer advice

• Federal Trade Commission, "Scammers use AI to enhance their family emergency schemes," March 20, 2023: FTC consumer alert

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, "Criminals Use Generative Artificial Intelligence to Facilitate Financial Fraud," Dec. 3, 2024: PSA I-120324-PSA

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, "Malicious Actors Manipulating Photos and Videos to Create Explicit Content and Sextortion Schemes," June 5, 2023: PSA I-060523-PSA

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, "Criminals Using Altered Proof-of-Life Media to Extort Victims in Virtual Kidnapping for Ransom Scams," Dec. 5, 2025: PSA I-120525-PSA

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, "2025 IC3 Annual Report," April 2026: 2025 Internet Crime Report (PDF)

• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, "Take It Down," undated: Take It Down service

Or let NimBot handle it

A calm 20-minute conversation tonight is one of the strongest protections your family can have. You can do all of this yourself, and it works. If you'd rather not run it alone, NimBot handles the training, the drills and the reminders for your whole team. Try it at app.nim.bot.