You will agree a verification routine with the people most likely to be targeted using your voice or face.
Rachel, from lesson 5.1, has been meaning to talk to her parents about cloned-voice scams for months. Every time, she thinks of a reason to wait. Her father will say he'd never fall for it. Her mother will worry. It's an awkward thing to bring up over dinner. Then a colleague's grandmother transfers money to someone pretending to be her grandson, and Rachel decides to do it that weekend.
This exercise is that conversation, and the plan that comes out of it. It uses the habits from lesson 5.3, Safe words, callbacks and questions only they can answer, and turns them into something your family has agreed and can find when they need it. Allow about thirty minutes, plus the conversation itself.
Think about whose voice or face could be used to target whom. Usually that's adult children and their parents, but it might also include grandparents, siblings who live overseas, a domestic helper who handles household money, or an aunt you're close to.
Prioritise the people most likely to be targeted, which often means older relatives, and the people whose voices are most available online, often the younger ones. You need at least two family members for this exercise. More is better, but don't wait for everyone to be available before starting.
Do this in person, or on a call you start yourself to a number you already have. The safe word must never travel by chat or text.
Open with a real story rather than a warning. The Arup case from lesson 5.2, or a recent news report, works well. Rachel told her parents about her colleague's grandmother, then said: "My voice is all over Instagram. Someone could fake me calling you. I want us to have a way to check."
Framing it as protecting yourself, rather than doubting them, helps a lot. Most parents will agree to something that protects their child.
Then agree three things. First, one safe word. Choose it together, following the rules in lesson 5.3: nothing guessable from social media, easy to remember. You might choose one word for the whole family, or one for each pair of people. Second, the rule: any urgent request for money, transfers, one-time codes or passwords gets the safe word, then a callback on a known number. No exceptions, even when the voice sounds right. Third, what to say: practise the words for ending a call politely. Saying them out loud once makes them far easier to use under pressure.
Now write a one-page plan. It needs the names of each family member in the plan, the phone number for each one, copied from a number you already have and checked by calling it, a backup person to call for each if they don't pick up, and the rule in one sentence, in the words your family uses.
Don't write the safe word on the plan. The plan may be stuck on a fridge or saved on a phone, and anyone who sees it shouldn't learn the word.
Print a copy in large type for older relatives, and save a photo of it on their phones in a place they can find, such as a favourite album. If someone in the family is more comfortable in Mandarin, Malay, Tamil or a dialect, write it in that language too.
Here's Rachel's plan. The names are examples, and the real plan has full numbers where this one shows x.
"Our family rule for urgent calls.
If anyone calls, messages or video calls asking for money, a transfer, a code or a password, even if it sounds like us: ask for the family word. Then hang up and call back on the number below.
Rachel: 9xxx xxxx. If no answer, call Wei Jie, her husband: 8xxx xxxx. Mum: 9xxx xxxx, and if no answer, call Dad. Dad: 8xxx xxxx, and if no answer, call Mum.
What to say: 'I want to help. I'll call you back on your number now.'
Never send money while still on the call."
Rachel and her parents chose a safe word together at dinner. Her father did say he'd never fall for it. Then he asked what the word was again, twice, and wrote a reminder in his own notebook in a way only he understood.
Rachel's plan is built for cloned voices and faces. Not every scam call uses one. Fake government officials, phishing messages and fake bank calls work without any AI at all, and the safe word won't help with those. Scam-proof your money covers them, including the household verification script in lesson 2.4, Write a verification script for your household. Your callback plan and that script fit well together on the same fridge.
You're finished when at least two family members have agreed a safe word in person or on a call you started, everyone in the plan knows the rule, and there's a one-page plan with names, checked numbers, backups and the rule, saved or printed where the most vulnerable person can find it.
The conversation is the step people put off. Pick the family member you'll talk to first and the day you'll do it.
Hold the safe word conversation with at least two family members and write a one-page callback plan with names, numbers and the rule.
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