You will write a short script that anyone in your family can follow when a caller claims to be an official or the bank.
Your mother picks up the home phone. A polite voice says he's calling from her bank's fraud department and needs her help to secure her account. She's 67, she trusts banks, and she has never heard of a safe account. You know the call-back rule from lesson 2.3, but you won't be in the room when this happens.
That's what this exercise is for. You'll write a one-page script that anyone in your household can follow, word for word, when a caller says they're from the bank, the police or a government agency. It needs to work for the person in your family who is least comfortable with technology, on their worst day.
A good household script has four parts, and it should fit on one page in large print.
The first part is a fixed opening line. It's the sentence everyone in the family says as soon as a caller mentions money, an account or an investigation. Something like "I will call you back on the official number" works well because it's polite and final, and it doesn't invite a debate. Everyone should use the same words, so 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 your household uses, copied from each bank's official website or from the back of the cards. Add the address of the ScamShield website, scamshield.gov.sg, where anyone can check a suspicious message and read current scam alerts, and the Singapore Police Force website, police.gov.sg. Copy each number yourself from the official source, and note where you got it and when, so you know when to check it again.
The third part is the money rule: nobody in this household moves money, shares a one-time password or installs an app while on a call. It doesn't matter who the caller says they are. After hanging up, you check first, and only then decide.
The fourth part is the family check-in. Anyone who gets a call like this tells one other family member before doing anything at all. Agree who that person is, and agree that they'll never be annoyed by being asked.
Start by listing every bank and card in your household. Include parents or relatives whose calls you would be the one to help with. Sit down with the cards or the banking apps, and find each hotline on the official website, never through a search ad.
Next, write the opening line in the words your family actually uses. If your father speaks Mandarin at home, write the line in Mandarin as well. A line that sounds natural to him is one he'll actually say.
Then write the money rule and the check-in rule as two short sentences each. Avoid technical words. "One-time password" might need a note in brackets, such as "the code the bank sends by SMS".
Add a short line of reminders at the bottom: government officials will never ask you to transfer money, give your banking login details or install an app over a phone call, and banks in Singapore don't send clickable links by SMS or email.
Finally, print it or save it as a picture on each person's phone. Stick a copy near the home phone if you still have one.
Here's an illustration of a finished script. The household, names and numbers are made up.
"Our household rule for calls about money.
When anyone calls about your bank account, your money, a parcel, the police or a government case, say: I will call you back on the official number. Then hang up.
Our bank numbers, copied from the banks' own websites: Bank A, the number on the back of Mum's card. Bank B, the number on the back of Dad's card. ScamShield website: scamshield.gov.sg. Police: police.gov.sg, or 999 in an emergency.
The money rule: we never move money, read out a code from an SMS, or install an app while someone is on the phone with us.
The check-in rule: before doing anything about a call like this, call Wei Ming. He will never be annoyed.
Remember: government officials never ask for transfers, bank logins or app installs over the phone. Banks don't send links."
Notice that the script names a real person for the check-in, and gives each bank number a source. It doesn't try to describe every scam. The rule covers any call that asks for money, codes or apps, so new scam stories can't get around it.
Writing the script is half the job. The other half is making sure the people who need it most understand it. Older relatives may feel the script suggests they can't look after themselves, so it helps to frame it as a rule the whole household follows, including you.
Practise it once. Pretend to be a caller from the bank and let them say the opening line and hang up on you. It feels a little silly, but saying the words once out loud makes them far easier to reach for later. Ask what's confusing, and change the wording until it's clear to them.
Before you start your own version, decide who in your family is most likely to answer a call like the one at the top of this lesson. 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 or share it with your household, and walk an older family member through it.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).