You will be able to write a short script that anyone in your family can follow when a caller says they are an official or from the bank.
Work out who in your household is most likely to pick up a call from an unknown number. Your household script has to work for that person.
Picture your mother, aged 67, answering the home phone. A polite man says he is from her bank's fraud department and needs her help to secure her account. She trusts banks and has never heard of a "safe account". You already know the call-back rule from Lesson 2.3, but you won't be there when this call comes, so she needs something written down that she can follow without you.
A household script is a one-page, large-print set of rules that anyone in the household can follow word for word when a caller claims to be from the bank, the police or a government agency. It has four parts. It has to work for the least tech-comfortable person in your family on their worst day.
The first part is the fixed opening line. Everyone in the family says this one sentence as soon as a caller mentions money, an account or an investigation. A good one is "I will call you back on the official number." It is polite and final, and it doesn't invite debate. Because everyone uses the same words, nobody has to think of what to say under pressure.
The second part is a list of official numbers. Write down the hotline for every bank the household uses, copied from the bank's official website or the back of the cards. Add the ScamShield website (scamshield.gov.sg), where anyone can check a suspicious message and read current scam alerts. Add the Singapore Police Force website (police.gov.sg) too. Copy each number yourself from the official source and note where and when you got it, so you know when to check it again.
The third part is the money rule. Nobody in the household moves money, shares a one-time password or installs an app while on a call, whoever the caller claims to be. After hanging up, they check first and only then decide.
The fourth part is the family check-in. Anyone who gets such a call tells one named family member before doing anything at all. Agree who that person is, and agree that they will never be annoyed at being asked.
The script doesn't try to describe every scam. Its rules cover any call asking for money, codes or apps, so a new scam story can't get around them.
Start by listing every bank and card in the household. Include parents or relatives whose calls you would be the one to help with. Then, with the cards or banking apps in hand, find each hotline on the bank's official website. Never find one through a search ad.
Write the opening line in the words your family actually uses. If someone speaks another language at home, write the line in that language as well. For example, if your father speaks Mandarin at home, add the line in Mandarin. A line that sounds natural to him is one he will actually say.
Write the money rule and the check-in rule as two short sentences each. Leave out technical words. Where you can't avoid one, add a note in brackets: "one-time password" may need "(the code the bank sends by SMS)" beside it.
At the bottom of the page, add a short line of reminders. Government officials never ask you to transfer money, give banking login details or install an app over a phone call. Banks in Singapore don't send clickable links by SMS or email.
The script below belongs to an invented household, and runs from top to bottom like this:
Title: The household rule for calls about money. When to use it: anyone calling about your bank account, your money, a parcel, the police or a government case. Say the opening line, then hang up. Numbers: Bank A (from the back of Mum's card). Bank B (from the back of Dad's card). ScamShield, scamshield.gov.sg. Police, police.gov.sg, or 999 in an emergency. Money rule: Never move money, read out a code from an SMS, or install an app while someone is on the phone. Check-in: Call Wei Ming before doing anything about such a call. He will never be annoyed. Reminder: Government officials never ask for transfers, bank logins or app installs over the phone. Banks don't send links.
The check-in names a real person, and every bank number shows where it came from.
Writing the script is half the job. The other half is making sure the people who need it most understand it. Print it, or save it as a picture on each person's phone. If the household still has a home phone, stick a copy near it.
Then walk each family member through it. Older relatives may feel the script suggests they can't look after themselves, so present it as a rule the whole household follows, including you.
Rehearse it once aloud. Play a bank caller, let them say the opening line, and let them hang up on you. It feels a little silly, but saying the words once makes them much easier to reach for later. Afterwards, ask what was confusing and change the wording until it is clear to them.
Before you start your own version, decide who in your family is most likely to answer a call like the one your mother got from the "fraud department". Write the script for that person, in their words and at their reading speed, and the rest of the household will find it easy too.
Write the one-page script, print it or send it to your household, and go through it with an older family member.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).