You should create a Secret Password with your family

Scammers are out of control. Fraudsters and cybercriminals every year make billions tricking people into parting with their cash. A romantic scam, business email compromise, investment scams, sextortion— the list of ways criminals prey on people is virtually endless and ever-changing.

Add to that scams where the criminal pretends to be someone known to the target to extract money. There are increasing calls for people, especially families, to create passwords or passcodes with each other. In early December, the FBI released Britain’s Starling bank also published a recommendation that people create a “password or phrase with your family to verify their identity”. instructions create safe expressions with others.

It’s a simple—if not novel—approach—potentially effective. For example, if you get a text or call from “your son” or “daughter” and they urgently want money to get out of traffic, asking them to provide a pre-arranged passphrase can reveal whether it’s really them. .

“Scammers will use manipulative tactics to put the victim in a vulnerable position where they act out of panic, haste, or strong urges,” says Erin Englund, director of threat analytics at fraud firm BioCatch. “Having a password or similarly developed strategy allows victims to quickly verify the legitimacy of unusual interactions and take control.”

Calls to create family passwords or passphrases have come as fraudsters increasingly embrace artificial intelligence. Machine learning has enabled criminals to create impersonating deepfake videos to clone people and voices with just a few seconds of audio. Fraudsters used these voice clones for to claim family members were kidnapped and demanded to pay a ransom for their release.

Rachel Tobak, CEO of SocialProof Security, said: “AI poses a huge risk to businesses and families. Tobac says the companies he works with receive voice-cloned calls with artificial intelligence, which also use fake phone numbers and try to impersonate business executives.

“I also hear about several families every day who are being targeted by AI phone calls and have a nephew, grandchild or niece who has been kidnapped or hit someone who is pregnant and needs money for legal fees, or a carjacking. they clone with hysterics like falling into an accident. fees and collateral,” Tobac says.

Creating a Good Family Password

As with your online passwords, there are dos and don’ts when it comes to creating a shared passphrase. For starters, you shouldn’t match your passwords with any passwords, and they shouldn’t be things a scammer can easily find—street names, birthdays, pets, or other personal information that might be shared online.

“Consider what you or your loved ones post online as information available to scammers,” says Englund. “Even if you keep all social media private, your information is available to your hackable connections and followers.”