WASHINGTON, D.C. – AI has become part of our daily lives, including older adults. AARP said AI use among older adults nearly doubled between 2024 and 2025. Senators on both sides of the aisle are warning that while this technology may help improve lives, scammers are also using it to exploit seniors.
In a Senate Aging committee hearing, Deborah Del Mastro, a California mom, details what happened after she answered a phone call from a local number one morning.
“I call this the worst day of my life,” said Del Mastro. The caller claimed he kidnapped her daughter. “I could hear a commotion in the background and he put on her voice, now I know her voice, and her saying: I’m so sorry mom, I’m so scared, I’m so sorry.”
After spending five hours on the phone with the caller and sending more than five thousand dollars to them in hopes of her daughter being released, the caller claimed he released her daughter and hung up. Del Mastro called her daughter’s phone. Her daughter answered the call. Del Mastro realized the ‘kidnapping’ was not real. It was all a scam.
“I was never so happy in my life to be scammed, so relieved and furious that we had fallen for this,” said Del Mastro.
Del Mastro said the caller used an AI technique called voice cloning, which replicates a person’s voice.
“I was totally convinced this was my daughter’s voice,” said Del Mastro.
As AI grows, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D- NY) said scammers are turning to AI to exploit people, especially seniors, through voice cloning, deep-fake videos and highly personalized phishing.
“In 2025 seniors lost nearly eight billion dollars to scams, that’s up over 50 percent than the year before due in part to the increased sophistication of AI technology,” said the Senator. “Scammers use AI images, clone voices and launch fishing attacks that drain senior’s savings. In many cases, AI didn’t invent these scams it supercharged them, making old cons more convincing and easier to pull off.”
Del Mastro said people need to be more aware of scammers using AI techniques to deceive people.
“And there needs to be guardrails, and we need to find out how to protect those of us who don’t know about this,” said Del Mastro.
Senator Gillibrand recently sent a letter to leading AI companies asking them to explain how they are safeguarding their products to people and people with disabilities. The Senator said the letter is the first step, but there needs to be bipartisan framework to govern AI.
