Imagine yourself alone on a quiet evening. The phone rings.
You pick up, and on the other line you hear the voice of your grandchild.
They need help. They need money. They need it now.
In moments like this when emotions run high, it's easy to simply send the cash and hope it was the right decision.
But that voice on the other end of the call? It could just be AI.
This is something that scam prevention educator Carol Gonsales wants more kūpuna to know.
That's why she founded WiseStep AI, a free online tool built to help older adults identify online AI scams. Gonsales joined HPR to discuss how she got into the field of scam prevention and education.
Interview Highlights
On her fight against AI fraud
CAROL GONSALES: This thought started in my mind with my mother. My mom was in the early stages of dementia, and she was getting about 150 calls a day. … Somebody had committed fraud using her Medicare information, and that was the last straw for my father. My father was her caregiver, and he actually had to disconnect their telephone so that they wouldn't be getting calls all day long and all night long. So that was kind of the catalyst in the back of my mind that got this moving. And I just keep hearing about scams and other fraud committed against our seniors and elders, and I thought I could do something about this.
On identifying AI scams with WiseStepAI
GONSALES: If someone were to log on to WiseStepAI.com, the very first thing that they would see on the webpage is called a paste-and-check. And if they have any text message or email that they might suspect is fraudulent or could be coming from a scammer, they can just paste that right into their paste-and-check field, and it will come up with different 'costumes' that that particular text or email might have.
That will identify whether that email or text is good to go — or what costumes is it wearing? Is it wearing an urgency costume? Is it wearing a big emotion costume? Meaning, is it claiming that you know they love you like love spamming? Is it asking for an odd payment?
On what to do if you or a loved one is defrauded
GONSALES: The first thing to do is get on and call the fraud line. AARP has a number for fraud. There is an elder abuse fraud number to call, FBI has a number to call for scams and fraud activities that happen, whether it's online or maybe over the phone. Making someone feel less than is not the answer — the answer is giving them support. Yes, we're sorry that you lost $5,000, that's a lot of money, but this is what we can do to move forward, so that they are maintaining their dignity and feeling supported.
More information and resources for identifying and preventing AI scams can be found on WiseStepAI's website.
This story aired on The Conversation on Nov. 2, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
