In Today’s Episode of Smarter Money Matters with Dr. Jeff Camarda, Lou, and Anna…
Explain why every family should have a private code word to protect against modern scams.
Key points:
AI voice cloning now makes it easy for scammers to impersonate family members and create fake emergencies.
A code word is a simple identity check: if someone calls asking for money, you can verify them by asking for the family code word.
If the caller refuses or doesn’t know it, hang up and call the real person directly.
Choose a code word that isn’t public, is easy to remember, and is shared only within a small, trusted circle.
Change the word only if circumstances require it, such as a divorce or a change in family dynamics.
Older or more vulnerable family members need a simple system, possibly with written reminders or phone settings that block unknown callers and remind them regularly to only pick up the phone if the contact calling is already saved into their phone.
Family gatherings are a good time to establish and explain the system.
A code word remains one of the most effective defenses against increasingly sophisticated scams.
Video Chapters & Transcript:
Howdy folks. Welcome to yet another edition of Smarter Money Matters. It really really does – with me, your wealth doctor, Jeff Camarda, uh, and our super CFPs, Anna and Lou. Anyway, so today’s really important topic uh and again drawn from the Wall Street Journal article of the same uh name is why every family needs a code word. Why does every family need a code word? And this is really something that probably is off the radar of a lot of folks. Uh but why would that be do you think Lou? Well, uh, in today’s day and age with with all the, you know, AI advancement out there, um, there’s a lot of scams going on. And, um, you know, these these AI and hackers and scammers out there use AI to impersonate family members, you know, use some someone’s voice to pretend that it can be. And even before, it’s been a long-standing problem where I call up and, you know, pretend to be someone else and Anna pretends to be my granddaughter, but she really isn’t. Oh, grandpa, I’m stuck in Timbuktu. You got to send money. They’re about to kidnap me. And it can be very convincing and people get all worked up and and they kind of mindlessly go ahead and send the funds, right? So, a code word is kind of like a personal protection identity verification system that you can use in your family just like you’re required to by almost every transaction you probably engage in these days. Um, and uh, um, it it really doesn’t have to be that complicated, but again, if you hear to lose point, if you get a call from someone who sounds just like your grandson and says he needs money for a gift card for something, the best thing to do is hang up and say, “Call me right back.” Or call your grandson yourself, right? And it can be hard to do, especially if it sounds just like that grandson’s voice, right? That can be difficult to hang up on him and then do it. But it’s uh or if he’s being kidnapped in Tim Timb too, right? Uh but if uh if if it’s not appropriate to have the call right back, then that’s where the code word comes into play, right? So what is okay, that’s great, Johnny. I’m happy to help you out. What’s the family code word? And if it’s double eagle or, you know, magnolia, whatever it is, you know that it’s almost impossible unless you’ve leaked it for the fraudster to be able to tease that information out and they might try to bamboozle you, but they’re not going to come up with a word. Right. Right. What are your thoughts on that, Anna Wonderlick? Yeah. So, um, the article talked about some different options for the code word. I mean, obviously you don’t want to use something super publicly available like the road you live on or something like that. Um, but it can just be, you know, a family memory. Um, they even had some examples of using like a question or a phrase. Um, again, just make sure it’s something that’s not publicly available or easily identifiable about you and your family. Yeah. And then they had some suggestions. Keep the word simple but strong, right? Easy to remember, particularly for the age among us. Uh, keep it safe. Don’t share it. Limit the circle of people that you share this with. People talk and if it leaks out, you’re screwed, right? And also have a plan B. Some some families also have, you know, in addition to the code word, they’ll ask you a question, you know, like what was your first car, you know, or something that’s common family knowledge like where was Grandpa Jones born? What state was he born? Something like that. And even that’s kind of on the line of what might be in public information. So think deeply about it. But this is serious stuff. To get back to your, you know, your AI example, you all know what deep fakes are, right? I’m sure you’ve all seen, you’ve watched on Facebook or, you know, Tik Tok or whatever these just outlandish videos that appear to be genuine. It looks just like the person. And this we’re still in the infasy of what a AI can do. So deep fake is, you know, with a little bit of training of the computer, we can come up with an avatar that sounds and looks exactly like Luth. I’m not sure why anybody would want to do that, but if they did, right, it’s virtually indistinguishable. And the only thing you got is a secret bit of information, your code word. What else? Uh, the other thing that the article mentions is that, you know, you want you may not want to change that code word often unless there’s a, you know, the circumstances that they can, you know, prompt like like a bitter divorce like a divorce absolutely or something a death in a family or something like that where you need to you know expand or or make the change to the world so it doesn’t get out and it stays in that closeknit circle uh but yeah that was one of the suggestions as well but um you know definitely something that’s very very prevalent nowadays with um you know with the emergence of of this uh you know technology and AI and like you were saying earlier even though it’s not this is nothing new but it’s getting you know these these cameras are getting better and better every single day so definitely something too. Yeah. And a good time, you know, to do that is, you know, around the holidays when folks gather or if you watched our podcast on family mission statements a couple times ago, it was a good one. You should probably go back and look at it if you didn’t see it. Um, but uh, you know, when you have the opportunity for a discussion and and explain why this is so important, it’s not just ah, you know, your teenagers aren’t going to listen. Yeah, sure, grandpa. Whatever. You know what I mean? They have to appreciate, you know what? If you don’t have a code word, you ain’t getting the money, boy. You’re not stuck. No, pay attention. Stuck. Bear that in mind know for the family members that and this may be you that you know that has cognitive issues or may in the future. Set up a system such that it’s relatively easy to work and maybe you write it down in a card somewhere, you know, where you’re you’re sure to find it by the phone or on a refrigerator, whatever. Get creative. But it needs to be since you know the older uh fraler less cognitively sophisticated um folks are probably the you know the the the prime targets of scams like this. You want to make sure that you have a mechanism that that lets them operate it. Yeah. I also think, you know, um putting like scam or spam blockers on their phones, maybe reminding them, hey, if you don’t if the number’s not saved, don’t don’t answer it or hang up the call. That could be an also a good reminder. Um even if they are, you know, a little bit a little bit seasoned, like you said, trying to prevent them from even interacting with the scammers as much as possible is is a good call. Good point. Seasoned. I like that. I think I’m getting a be a little more well seasoned myself. So, uh that that’s a really really good point. You know, get into uh um the phone and just go ahead and and block or or flag those, you know, favorite contacts. Presumably, your family members are going to be in there, too. And the other ones go to if it’s not that if it does, the phone number doesn’t match little Johnny, it may not be little Johnny. Good. That was a great great short session. Thank you very much Lou and and until next time this is Dr. Jeff Camarda wishing a very profitable week.
