From https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260804-why-your-family-needs-a-secret-codeword
Title : The secret codewords that scammers hate
By Thomas Germain , Aug 2026
"It was the most terror I've ever felt," says Elizabeth Benz, a mother from Buffalo, New York.
In September 2025, she got a phone call. "It was my 16-year-old-son, John," she says. "He was sobbing, 'Mom, my friend is dead. He's dead.'" She panicked, but things were about to get even worse.
A stranger took the phone. Over the course of 20 minutes, the man told her he'd just murdered her son's friend, and he'd do the same to John if she didn't meet him with US$7,500 in a Walmart parking lot.
But just in time, John's brother got hold of him. He was at a football game. John wasn't in danger, and that wasn't his voice on the phone. It was all an AI deepfake scam.
Deepfake AI scams might use your voice... Five minutes of preparation could save your loved ones from falling for fraud...
"Imagine getting a call at 02:00, a voicemail, a video call, a loved one saying they're in trouble," ... "The average consumer is not ready for this."
...experts agree a codeword is the easiest way to protect yourself. "My wife and I have a password. If either of us gets an unusual call, we use it to verify identity," an expert says.
Pick something that's easy to remember and hard to guess. Inside jokes are a safe bet.
"If my wife calls and asks me to pick up milk, I'm not asking for the password," the expert says. "But if ... she says been in an accident and needs me to transfer money, ... that's when you use it."...
Americans alone lost an estimated US$148.2bn to online scams and crimes in 2025, up nearly 26% from the year prior. AI-enabled scams accounted for US$6.3bn of that. Experts say they're growing exponentially...
Title : The secret codewords that scammers hate
By Thomas Germain , Aug 2026
"It was the most terror I've ever felt," says Elizabeth Benz, a mother from Buffalo, New York.
In September 2025, she got a phone call. "It was my 16-year-old-son, John," she says. "He was sobbing, 'Mom, my friend is dead. He's dead.'" She panicked, but things were about to get even worse.
A stranger took the phone. Over the course of 20 minutes, the man told her he'd just murdered her son's friend, and he'd do the same to John if she didn't meet him with US$7,500 in a Walmart parking lot.
But just in time, John's brother got hold of him. He was at a football game. John wasn't in danger, and that wasn't his voice on the phone. It was all an AI deepfake scam.
Deepfake AI scams might use your voice... Five minutes of preparation could save your loved ones from falling for fraud...
"Imagine getting a call at 02:00, a voicemail, a video call, a loved one saying they're in trouble," ... "The average consumer is not ready for this."
...experts agree a codeword is the easiest way to protect yourself. "My wife and I have a password. If either of us gets an unusual call, we use it to verify identity," an expert says.
Pick something that's easy to remember and hard to guess. Inside jokes are a safe bet.
"If my wife calls and asks me to pick up milk, I'm not asking for the password," the expert says. "But if ... she says been in an accident and needs me to transfer money, ... that's when you use it."...
Americans alone lost an estimated US$148.2bn to online scams and crimes in 2025, up nearly 26% from the year prior. AI-enabled scams accounted for US$6.3bn of that. Experts say they're growing exponentially...
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