How Scammers Build a Convincing 'New Number' Attack
Fraudsters running family emergency scams perform minimal research before making contact. A teenager's first name, general location, and communication style can often be inferred from a public Instagram or TikTok profile. The attacker texts a parent from a new number claiming to be the child, offers a plausible reason for the new number, and creates urgency around a small enough financial request to avoid triggering suspicion. Once a small payment succeeds, requests escalate rapidly.
AI Makes the Attack Personalizable at Scale
Previously, successfully impersonating a specific teenager required manual research. AI systems can now generate personalized messages at scale — scanning a target's social media profile, identifying writing patterns, relationships, and frequently referenced locations, and generating context-aware messages that reference specific details. The result is an impersonation that feels eerily accurate to parents who assume only their real child would know certain specifics.
The Emotional Manipulation Architecture
Family emergency scams are engineered around the parental protective instinct. The combination of an unexpected 'new number,' an implied emergency, and a request for secrecy ('don't call the other number — it's broken') is designed to create a window of action before the parent thinks to independently verify. The psychological pressure is deliberate and effective.
How Real Authenticator Protects You
The Family Code: A 60-Second Setup That Stops These Scams
Establish a Real Authenticator connection with your teenager, your spouse, and any other family members you might exchange money or sensitive information with. When a message arrives from an unknown number claiming to be a family member, ask: 'What's your RA code right now?' Your real child, on their real device, can provide it instantly. A scammer cannot. The conversation ends there.
Making the Habit Stick: The Family Rule
For this to work, the rule needs to be established before the emergency, not during it. Discuss it with your family explicitly: 'If you ever contact me from a number I don't recognize, I'm going to ask for your Real Authenticator code before sending anything.' This removes the awkwardness of the in-moment verification request and makes the code check a normal part of family communication security.
Parents of teenagers
Family emergency verification
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a family emergency scam?
A family emergency scam involves a fraudster contacting a parent or grandparent pretending to be their child or grandchild — typically from a 'new number' — and requesting urgent financial assistance under false pretenses.
How do I know if a text is really from my child?
You cannot verify identity from a phone number alone, as numbers can be spoofed or new numbers used. Real Authenticator provides cryptographic verification: ask for their current code, which only someone with their actual device can produce.
What if my teenager loses their phone and genuinely needs help?
In a genuine emergency, your child can ask a trusted friend to contact you through a verified channel, or you can call their school, their friend's known number, or another family member to confirm the situation before taking action.
Are these scams only targeting teenagers' parents?
No — the attack targets any family relationship where one party would send money urgently to help another. Grandchildren impersonating themselves to grandparents is equally common and often involves larger amounts.
How much information does a scammer need to convincingly impersonate my child?
Very little — a first name, a public social media profile, and the parent's phone number is often sufficient. AI tools can then generate personalized messages using details harvested from the public profile.
Data & Sources
- 1.Reported median loss per family/grandparent emergency scam victim in 2022 (survey/modeled estimate) — FTC Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2022
- 2.Reported consumer losses to text message scams in 2022 — FTC Data Spotlight: Text Message Scams, 2023
- 3.Americans targeted by an impersonation scam in 2022 (survey/modeled estimate) — FTC Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2022
- 4.Median time before a victim acts on a family-emergency text (industry research) (survey/modeled estimate) — AARP Fraud Watch Network
Statistics represent figures as reported by the cited source in the year indicated. Losses marked with superscript numbers are based on survey samples or industry modeled estimates and should be read as indicative trends rather than precise measurements. Many fraud incidents go unreported, so actual losses are likely higher than cited figures. This page is produced by Real Authenticator for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice.