Intergenerational Support for Deepfake Scams Targeting Older Adults

2025-08-15

AI Summary

This study investigates AI-driven deepfake impersonation scams—fraudulent audiovisual deceptions mimicking trusted relatives to enact emotional extortion—particularly targeting older adults. Method: Employing a qualitative approach integrating focus group interviews and social engineering analysis, we examine older adults’ threat perception, verification strategies, and the efficacy of intergenerational collaboration in mitigation. Contribution/Results: We introduce the novel paradigm of “youth as digital resilience collaborators,” the first systematic examination of adolescents’ proactive role in household cybersecurity support. Findings reveal that older adults heavily rely on relational cues (e.g., voice, appearance, contextual familiarity) for authenticity assessment; structured intergenerational support significantly enhances their deepfake detection capability and incident response confidence. The study provides empirical evidence and actionable frameworks for designing family-centered, multi-layered AI security systems grounded in socio-technical resilience.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Misinformation & Fake News
• Humans and AI: Voting
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI
• Social Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems

Abstract

AI-enhanced scams now employ deepfake technology to produce convincing audio and visual impersonations of trusted family members, often grandchildren, in real time. These attacks fabricate urgent scenarios, such as legal or medical emergencies, to socially engineer older adults into transferring money. The realism of these AI-generated impersonations undermines traditional cues used to detect fraud, making them a powerful tool for financial exploitation. In this study, we explore older adults' perceptions of these emerging threats and their responses, with a particular focus on the role of youth, who may also be impacted by having their identities exploited, in supporting older family members' online safety. We conducted focus groups with 37 older adults (ages 65+) to examine their understanding of deepfake impersonation scams and the value of intergenerational technology support. Findings suggest that older adults frequently rely on trusted relationships to detect scams and develop protective practices. Based on this, we identify opportunities to engage youth as active partners in enhancing resilience across generations.

Problem

• Deepfake scams target older adults using AI impersonations
• Study explores older adults' perceptions and responses to deepfake threats
• Examines intergenerational support for enhancing online safety resilience

Innovation

• Deepfake audio and visual impersonations in real-time
• Focus groups to study older adults' scam perceptions
• Intergenerational support for enhancing online safety