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Voice cloning and synthetic voice fraud

Short answer

Voice cloning is software that produces speech in a specific person's voice from a recording of them. Criminals use cloned voices to pose as a relative, a colleague or an account holder and ask for money or access. The most reliable defence is a habit, not a tool: do not trust the voice alone, hang up, and call the person back on a number you already know.

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Last reviewed

General information, not legal advice. This page has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer; check the linked primary sources before relying on it.

Key takeaways

  • The FTC says a short audio clip, which can come from content posted online, is enough to clone a voice.
  • The FBI describes two uses in fraud: fake emergency calls from a relative, and getting into bank accounts.
  • Since February 2024 the FCC has treated AI-generated voices in robocalls as artificial under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
  • Checking who is calling works better than trying to hear the difference.
  • UltoPulto does not monitor for voice clones. That capability is planned, not built.

What is the problem?

A cloned voice sounds like a particular person saying words they never said. The FTC describes the risk in two parts: families and small businesses can be targeted with fraudulent extortion scams, and creative professionals such as voice artists can have their voices appropriated in ways that threaten their livelihoods.

In December 2024 the FBI warned that criminals generate short audio clips of a loved one's voice to pose as a relative in a crisis and ask for immediate financial help or a ransom. It also reported the use of AI-generated audio of individuals to get access to bank accounts.

How does it happen?

  1. Someone collects a sample. The FTC notes that a short clip can be enough and that it can come from content posted online.
  2. Software generates new speech in that voice.
  3. You get a call or voice message with an urgent story: an accident, an arrest, a problem that has to be fixed now.
  4. The caller asks for payment that is hard to reverse. The FTC lists wire transfers, cryptocurrency, and gift card numbers and PINs.

What laws may apply?

It depends on where you live and how the voice was used. In the United States:

  • Robocalls. On 8 February 2024 the FCC announced a declaratory ruling that calls made with AI-generated voices are artificial under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The FCC says this gives state attorneys general another way to act against voice-cloning robocall scams.
  • Impersonation. In February 2024 the FTC finalized a rule against impersonating government and businesses, and proposed extending it to impersonation of individuals. Check the FTC's site for the current status of that proposal.
  • Voice as likeness. Some states protect a voice directly. Tennessee's ELVIS Act, signed on 21 March 2024, added voice to the state's protection against unauthorized use of a person's likeness.
  • Federal gap. In July 2024 the US Copyright Office concluded that existing laws do not give enough redress for unauthorized digital replicas, and recommended a new federal law covering all individuals, not only public figures.

Other laws, including fraud laws, may apply as well. See US federal privacy law.

What you can do yourself

These steps are free and do not need UltoPulto.

  1. Agree a secret word or phrase with your family and ask for it on unexpected calls. The FBI recommends this.
  2. Do not trust the voice. Hang up and call the person back on a number you already have.
  3. If the caller says they are from a bank or an organisation, look up its number yourself and call that.
  4. Treat any request to wire money, send cryptocurrency or read out gift card numbers as a warning sign.
  5. Where you can, limit public recordings of your voice, make social accounts private and limit followers to people you know.
  6. Report a scam call to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

What UltoPulto can do

  • Send a formal takedown notice to a platform when you report a deepfake or impersonation of you posted there.Built
  • Keep an evidence trail for each notice: what was sent, to whom, when, and what came back.Built
  • Find people-search listings about you and send removal requests under the law that applies where you live.Built
  • Voice-clone monitoring. Not built.Planned

What UltoPulto cannot do

  • We cannot tell you whether a call you receive uses a cloned voice.
  • We cannot stop someone from cloning a voice from recordings that are already public.
  • We cannot remove a voice, or anything else, from an AI model that has already been trained.
  • We cannot recover money sent to a scammer.

Sources

  1. 1Scammers use AI to enhance their family emergency schemesFederal Trade Commission, Consumer AdviceGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04
  2. 2Criminals Use Generative Artificial Intelligence to Facilitate Financial FraudFBI Internet Crime Complaint CenterGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04
  3. 3FCC Makes AI-Generated Voices in Robocalls IllegalFederal Communications CommissionGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04
  4. 4The FTC Voice Cloning ChallengeFederal Trade CommissionGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04
  5. 5FTC Proposes New Protections to Combat AI Impersonation of IndividualsFederal Trade CommissionGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04
  6. 6Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 1: Digital ReplicasUS Copyright OfficeGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04
  7. 7Gov. Lee Signs ELVIS Act Into LawOffice of the Governor of TennesseeGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04

Questions

How much audio does someone need to clone a voice?

The FTC says a short audio clip can be enough and that it can come from content posted online. We do not give a number of seconds because tools differ.

Can I tell a cloned voice by listening?

Not reliably. The FBI suggests listening closely to tone and word choice, and also advises verifying: hang up and call back on a known number, or ask for your family's secret phrase.

Is it illegal to clone someone's voice?

It depends on the place and the use. In the US, AI-generated voices in robocalls fall under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and some states, such as Tennessee, protect voice as part of a person's likeness.

Does UltoPulto monitor for clones of my voice?

No. Voice-clone monitoring is planned and not built. Today, if you find a deepfake or impersonation of you on a platform, you report it to us and we send the takedown notice.