Your family plan

Pick a family code word

Something only your family knows, never on social media. Anyone calling with an emergency has to know it. The FBI recommends exactly this, because a scammer can now clone a voice from a few seconds of audio.

Say it out loud to each other instead of texting it, and give it to family who live out of town too.

Source: FBI public service announcement, Dec. 3, 2024

Hang up and call back

Everyone in the family, kids and grandparents too. Any urgent call about money gets a call back on a number you already have saved: the one in your contacts, or the one on the back of your card. Never the number the caller gives you.

The same goes for anyone at your door this month. Get their name, close the door, and call the company back yourself.

Source: FCC, caller ID spoofing

Name a trusted contact at the bank

Someone the bank can call if something looks wrong. A trusted contact can’t move money or make decisions. Brokerages have to ask you for one, and many banks and credit unions will add one if you ask. Turn on account alerts while you’re there.

Sources: FINRA Rule 4512; CFPB, trusted contacts

Spend 15 minutes at home

Freeze credit

Yours, your parents’, and your kids’. It’s free, it doesn’t affect a credit score, and it stops anyone from opening new accounts in that name. You can lift it whenever you need to apply for credit. Do it at all three bureaus:

• Equifax
• Experian
• TransUnion

For kids under 16, a parent requests the freeze. Equifax and TransUnion handle those by mail.

Screen calls from unknown numbers

iPhone: Settings > Apps > Phone > Screen Unknown Callers

Android: Phone app > Settings > Caller ID and spam

Menu names vary a little by phone and software version.

Sources: FTC, credit freezes; Apple; Google

Limit who can chat with your kid

Three places, and each one takes about 10 to 15 minutes:

• Their phone: Screen Time on iPhone, Family Link on Android. Approve every new app, and only approved contacts can call or text.
• Their games: link your account as the parent. Chat off, or friends only. Set a spending limit.
• Their social apps: private account, messages from friends only, and turn on each app’s parent tools.

Then ask them to walk you through their friends list. Anyone they don’t know in person is worth restricting.

Step by step for every app and game: Protecting a kid or teen. House rules by age are there too.

Start the conversation tonight

With a parent:

“I went to a talk about scams and it scared me a little. Can we set up a family code word?”

With a teen:

“If anybody ever threatens you online, you won’t be in trouble with me. I’ll help you.”

And this one:

“If you ever sent something you regret, you can still come to me. We can get it taken down.”

Right now: text the first one, the code word question, to one person. Don’t text the code word itself; pick it in person or on a call.

Call the family who live out of town this week, too. Tell them about the flood scams, and give them the code word.