Scammers are out of control. Every year, fraudsters and cybercriminals Make billions To defraud people of their cash. Romance fraud, Business email agreement, Investment scams, sextortion-The list of ways criminals prey on people is virtually endless and constantly changing.
Add to that impersonation scams, where a criminal pretends to be someone known to their target and extracts money. There are increasing calls for people and especially families to create passphrases or passwords with each other. In early December, the F.B.I Released There is a recommendation that people create a “password or phrase with your family to verify your identity”, and British bank Starling has also published guidelines On making safe phrases with others.
It’s a simple, if not new, approach — one that could potentially be effective. For example, if you receive a message or call from your “son” or “daughter” and they’re asking for money to get out of an immediate jam, asking them to provide a pre-agreed passphrase is revealing. Can see if it’s really theirs. .
“Fraudsters will use manipulative tactics to put the victim in a vulnerable position where they act out of panic, urgency or desire,” says Erin Englund, director of threat analysis at fraud-detection firm BioCatch. “A passphrase or similarly designed strategy enables victims to quickly verify the legitimacy of an unusual interaction and take control.”
There have been calls to create family passwords or passphrases as fraudsters are increasingly adopting AI. Machine learning has allowed criminals to create Simulating deep fake videos To clone voices with people and a few seconds of audio. Scammers have used these voice clones to show off Family members have been kidnapped and a ransom has been demanded for their release.
“AI is creating enormous risks for businesses and families,” says Rachel Toback, CEO of SocialProof Security. Toback says companies he’s worked with have been on the receiving end of AI voice-clone calls, which also use fake phone numbers, trying to impersonate business executives.
“I also hear every day about families who have received AI phone-call attacks, voice-cloning a nephew, grandchild, or sibling about being kidnapped or involved in a car accident, where they Hit a pregnant woman and need money for legal. Fees and bail,” Toback says.
Creating a good family password
As with your online passwords, there are some dos and don’ts when it comes to creating a shared password. For starters, you shouldn’t make passphrases the same as any of your passwords, and they shouldn’t be things a scammer can easily find—like street names, birthdays, pets, or other personal information. which can be shared online.
“Consider anything you or your loved ones post online as data available to scammers,” says Englund. “Even if you keep all social media private, your data is available to your connections and followers who can be hacked.”
