Greek family targeted in AI voice-cloning phone scam

A Greek father reported that scammers used an artificial intelligence-cloned recording of his voice to attempt fraud against his 14-year-old daughter in a telephone scam, according to ERT News on September 19, 2026.

Attack Method

The victim told ERT News that callers posing as representatives of Greece's electricity-distribution network contacted his daughter on the family landline. The scammers allegedly used a digitally spliced recording of the father's voice—specifically, an earlier captured "yes"—to create the illusion of parental authorization and lend credibility to their fraudulent pitch ERT News.

Law Enforcement Response

Greek police spokesperson Konstantia Dimoglou warned ERT News that criminals can obtain and manipulate voice recordings using artificial intelligence to create audio that impersonates a target, then deploy those cloned voices in social-engineering attacks. The father's report surfaces amid heightened concern among Greek authorities about audio deepfakes as a fraud tool.

Separately, Greek police dismantled an alleged AI voice-cloning criminal network on September 18, 2026—one day before the family's report emerged—arresting two suspects aged 23 and 25 in Nea Ionia, Attica. That operation involved alleged criminal proceeds exceeding €1 million, according to Greek Reporter and Euronews. The available reporting does not establish a direct connection between the network dismantled on September 18 and the family incident reported on September 19.

Broader Fraud Trend

The family's case illustrates a widening attack surface in voice-cloning fraud: scammers now target not only direct victims but their minor children, using artificially cloned audio to bypass skepticism by impersonating parents or trusted authority figures. The approach requires only a short audio sample—a single word or brief phrase—to generate convincing synthetic speech. By splicing a captured "yes," the attackers exploited the psychological weight of parental approval to manipulate a young target.

No arrests have been reported in connection with the family incident, and no victim or suspect names have been released by authorities.