My father’s phone rang. The voice on the other end claimed to be me, said I was in trouble and had only one phone call. My dad was confused.
The voice didn’t sound like me. But, the clear giveaway: I was sitting right next to my father on the couch.
He hung up.
But those few seconds of confusion showed me something critical: These scams don’t need a perfect voice clone to work. They need panic, urgency, and the right emotional trigger.
What stayed with me wasn’t the technology, it was the question: What if I hadn’t been there?
My dad’s instinct would have been to call me immediately, and that instinct probably would have saved him. But instinct alone isn’t enough when scammers can exploit it. With AI voice cloning advancing rapidly, families need a clear, foolproof protocol. That’s where the family password comes in, and the holidays are the perfect time to set it up.
A three-second clip is all scammers need
According to McAfee research, modern AI tools can replicate a person’s voice from as little as three seconds of audio: a short social media video, a voicemail greeting, or a snippet from a Zoom call. Scammers harvest these samples from public sources and feed them into readily available software to create convincing impersonations.
Cybersecurity research shows that 15% of people now know someone who has been targeted by an AI voice scam, and 10% have been directly targeted themselves. When these scams succeed, they succeed big: Three-quarters of victims who fall for voice cloning scams lose money, often in amounts that devastate family finances.
CBS News reported on a Los Angeles man who lost $25,000 after receiving a call from what he believed was his son’s voice, claiming he’d been in an accident and needed bail money immediately. “It was his voice,” the father later said. “It was absolutely his voice. There was no doubt about it.” In Canada, a senior nearly wired $9,000 to scammers who had cloned her grandson’s voice, CBC News reported, before an alert bank employee stopped the transfer.
The FBI’s 2024 Internet Crime Complaint Center report shows tech support scams, which often transition into voice-based attacks, cost victims $1.46 billion in 2024 alone, with older adults bearing the heaviest losses.
The family password protocol
The solution recommended by FBI officials and identity theft specialists is elegant in its simplicity: a shared, secret family word or phrase that must be provided before any money moves or sensitive information is shared, regardless of how real the caller sounds.
Here’s how it works. If someone calls claiming to be a family member in an emergency, the person receiving the call calmly asks for the family password. If the caller cannot provide it, the receiver hangs up and calls back using a known, trusted number or contacts another family member to verify the situation. The family password isn’t a replacement for verification. It’s a circuit-breaker that stops the emotional hijacking long enough for rational thought to catch up.
What makes this protocol so effective is that it transforms an emotional crisis into a logical checkpoint. Scammers rely on panic to override judgment. The family password forces a pause, and that pause is usually enough to expose the fraud.
Setting it up at holiday gatherings
Holiday gatherings offer a natural, low-pressure opportunity to establish this protocol. Rather than framing it as a scary warning, positioning it as a “family safety tradition” a five-minute conversation that shows care and foresight.
Here’s how to set it up:
1. Choose a non-obvious word or phrase
It should be memorable for everyone, including older relatives, but not something that appears in social media posts, family histories, or public records. Security experts recommend avoiding obvious choices like childhood pet names if they’ve been mentioned in old Facebook photos. Better choices include inside jokes, made-up words, or seemingly random phrases that only your family would know.
2. Establish clear usage rules
The family password should be requested any time someone calls with an urgent request for money, account information, or sensitive decisions, especially if the caller claims to have “only one phone call” or insists on secrecy. Make sure everyone understands they should never say the password first or share it outside the immediate family. Some victims have accidentally revealed their family password to scammers by saying, “Wait, aren’t you supposed to give me our code word?”
3. Practice the protocol
A quick role-play, even a lighthearted one, helps cement the protocol. Have someone pretend to call with an emergency and walk through the verification process. Yes, it’ll feel awkward for 30 seconds, but then everyone will be glad you did it. This removes hesitation and builds confidence that when a real situation arises, everyone will know exactly what to do.
Beyond the family password: Layered protection
While the family password is the cornerstone defense, it works best as part of a broader verification strategy. If a family member forgets the password in a genuine emergency, a backup method is the “personal question test” asking something only the real person would know, but that isn’t available on social media. Not “What’s your dog’s name?” but “What restaurant did we go to for your tenth birthday?”
The callback protocol remains essential: Hang up and call back using a number from your own contacts, never a number provided by the caller. Scammers can spoof caller ID, but they can’t intercept a call you initiate to a known number.
For families concerned about limiting scammers’ access to voice samples, simple digital hygiene helps: making social media accounts private, being selective about posting videos, and using generic voicemail greetings that don’t include names or personal details.
The advisor’s role and opportunity
For financial advisors, the family password conversation represents a timely, service-oriented way to add value during year-end reviews. It’s a natural extension of the trusted contact and financial exploitation discussions many advisors already have with vulnerable clients.
When introducing this topic, consider framing it this way with your clients:
“Voice cloning scams now sound exactly like your kids or grandkids. A three-second audio clip is often enough, so recognizing the voice isn’t reliable protection anymore. At your holiday gathering, I’d recommend a five-minute family safety huddle to agree on a private word or phrase, and the rule that you’ll always verify it before sending money or sharing account details.”
This conversation connects naturally to other fraud prevention measures: reviewing which phone numbers and email addresses are legitimate, discussing when clients should contact you before making large transfers, and reinforcing that any unexpected, urgent request for money should trigger the family password check first—and a call to you second.
A 2024 Horsesmouth survey of financial advisors found that those who proactively discuss fraud concerns with clients report successfully intervening to prevent losses. One advisor described stopping a client from wiring money after a “grandchild in trouble” call; another prevented a $25,000 loss by asking questions that revealed the emergency was fabricated. The common thread in these success stories isn’t sophisticated technology—it’s trusted relationships and simple verification protocols.
Year-end checklist for advisors
As you head into client review meetings this December, consider adding these items to your fraud prevention discussions:
- Introduce the family password concept and encourage clients to set one up at holiday gatherings.
- Review and update trusted contact information for vulnerable clients.
- Confirm verification procedures for unusual withdrawal requests or account changes.
- Remind clients: Any urgent money request should trigger family password verification first, contact with you second.
- Share resources on recognizing red flags: demands for gift cards, Bitcoin, wire transfers, or “don’t tell anyone” instructions.
The holidays bring families together, but they also bring heightened scam activity and perfect cover stories for manufactured emergencies. A five-minute conversation at the dinner table isn’t just fraud prevention; it’s a gift of security that could protect your clients and their families for years to come.