Voice cloning scams are rising as accessible generative AI tools let malicious actors impersonate loved ones to steal personal information and cash, according to the article. It cites a TikTok video with more than 450,000 views in which a young woman wrote that her mother was nearly scammed by an imposter imitating her grandmother’s voice; they caught it because Grandma is no longer alive. In 2025, Americans lost around $148.2 billion to digital crimes, a jump of more than 25 percent from the year before. NordVPN data found a growing number of scammers pitching voice scam services on dark web forums and Telegram channels, with sales pitches for voice cloning services rising sevenfold in the last two years. Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN, said cloned voices that once sounded slightly off are now convincing, and such tools are increasingly packaged, priced, and sold directly to the Average Joe as part of “scam kits.” A NordVPN study of dark web marketplaces found a hacked ElevenLabs Scale account with unlimited voice cloning sold for just $150, and an ElevenLabs API key for a mere $8. The article says anyone with a computer can do it, so people must prepare, starting with knowing the threat and making a plan.