Criminals harvest victims' voices via fake surveys to authorise bank payments
5 February 2026 · National Trading Standards
National Trading Standards identified an organised criminal network that called older and vulnerable people posing as survey-takers. The calls were designed to record the victim's voice and collect personal, health, and financial details under the guise of a lifestyle survey.
The criminals then used AI to clone those voices and called banks and financial providers impersonating the victims themselves, simulating consent for direct debit arrangements the victims had never agreed to. Because the voice on the call matched the account holder, institutions processed the payments. Many victims had no idea the debits had been set up until money started leaving their accounts.
National Trading Standards identified the operation as co-ordinated and scaled, specifically targeting people least likely to notice or challenge unexpected changes to their finances.
How this connects to Safve
This scam does not target the family relationship directly, so a shared safe word is not the primary defence. The real caution is being wary of any unsolicited caller who asks you to talk at length, answer a survey, or provide personal details over the phone. That is how your own voice gets harvested for cloning. Hang up on any call you did not initiate that asks for spoken responses or personal information, and do not assume a formal-sounding caller has a legitimate reason for the request.