Agree a family password against the voice-clone call

1. Why this, and why now

The call goes: “Mum, it’s me, I’ve had an accident, I need you to send money, please don’t tell Dad.” It is your child’s voice. It is not your child. A few seconds of audio from any video they have ever posted is enough to clone a voice, and the panic is the point: it stops you thinking.

A shared word beats the technology completely, because it was never in any recording.

2. Pick your family safe word tonight

Something odd, said out loud, not written in a group chat. The name of a terrible holiday. A word from a family joke. Not the dog’s name; that is on Instagram.

The FBI gives the same advice: agree a secret word or phrase with your family to check who is really calling.

Some examples of the shape to aim for (pick your own, not these):

• Good: two words that do not belong together, like “purple wellies” or “soggy lighthouse”.
• Good: a phrase from a family joke that nobody outside it would understand.
• Bad: a pet’s name, your street, a birthday, a school or a football team. All of those can be found online.

If you want help choosing, paste this, but say the word out loud afterwards and delete the chat.

Suggest ten short, memorable, unusual words a family could use as a spoken password
against scam calls. Avoid anything that could be guessed from social media: no pet names,
no places, no birthdays. Just the list.

3. Agree the rule

Any call or message that asks for money, codes or urgent help gets the question. The word is right, carry on. The word is missing or wrong, hang up and ring the person back on the number saved in your phone. A real emergency survives a callback.

Say the word out loud afterwards and delete the chat. Tell your parents that hanging up on a crying voice is the right move when the word does not come.