[Post update] You should know about family emergency scams so you can protect you and your family

Family emergency scams are terrifying and very effective. Knowing they exist will help prevent you and your loved ones from a potentially horrifying experience.

Hi everyone! I’m re-posting this message, originally published on March 20, 2023, with some updates. The community has expanded a lot in the last year, and this topic is critical as these scams become increasingly dangerous as generative AI tools become cheaper and better at mimicking voices and even visual impersonations on video calls.

Knowing that these scams exist is critical in preventing their harm. If people understand this type of scheme exists, their index of suspicion will be higher, and they will be less likely to fall for such a scheme. Don’t forget to tell your family members about these as well. A five-minute conversation with your family can protect you from a great deal of harm, anxiety, and stress.

What are family emergency scams?

A caller will impersonate an authority figure (police, court, doctor, etc.) or your loved one (using AI Voice Generation) and say:

1. There’s an emergency that your family member is in (needs bail, hurt, stranded, etc.)

2. They need money NOW from you to solve the emergency.

Note: I haven’t seen any reports of this happening yet, but it’s only a matter of time before this type of scam is executed with highly believable video messages or video calls. Look at how convincing these deep-fakes (over a year old) of Tom Cruise or Elon Musk are, and imagine what a scammer could do to imitate a family member. The technology to do this is only getting better, cheaper, and easier to use.

To be successful in a scam like this, scammers will create:

1. An extreme emotional reaction that reduces the likelihood you will stop to think; the scammer is trying to induce panic.

2. A sense of urgency (you must move quickly — so you don’t have time to think)

3. The need for secrecy (so you don’t contact the family member and realize it’s a scam)

4. Isolation—For example, in a virtual kidnapping version of this scam, the scammer may try to isolate you by telling you that you are under surveillance, and if you don’t comply exactly, your loved one will be harmed. Then, the scammer may direct you to get in your car and drive somewhere. By isolating you, it’s harder to get help or consult with another loved one.

A terrifying version of this is the virtual kidnapping scam, where a scammer calls and says they have your family member hostage, and you have to pay to get them back. Here are two articles of real-world examples of these terrifying scams.

• ‘We have your daughter’: A virtual kidnapping and a mother’s five hours of hell

• Why I hung up on the person who said he kidnapped my child

Protect Yourself

Three rules will help prevent you from becoming a victim in any attempted scam situation. Here’s a great reference from the Cybercrime Support Network: scamspotter.org.

1. SLOW - Slow it down. Ask questions. Don’t be rushed. There is time to process what’s happening, even if it's a real emergency.

2. SPOT CHECK - Do research, call a family member, hang up, and call them back at the official number of the agency they call from.

3. STOP! Don’t send payment. Definitely don’t send payment using cryptocurrency or gift cards.

Specific tips to protect yourself from family emergency scams

1. Tell your loved ones that these scams exist! This will increase their index of suspicion, which will protect them in the future.

2. Don’t answer calls or messages from unknown numbers.

3. Protect your phone number and email addresses so scammers don’t know how to contact you.

   Make it harder for hackers to harm you by protecting your email address -- set up a secondary account and use that for account sign-ups

   Do you know how easily a bad actor can find your phone number? Make it A LOT harder by getting a secondary number and protect yourself from SIM Swaps and phone-based attacks

4. Don’t post news of upcoming travel dates and locations online (bad actors look for such posts to find targets/victims). For example, if a bad actor knows you are traveling to the Bahamas, they could call your family member and claim there was an accident while you were traveling, and it would be more believable.

5. Have a “password” that family members can ask for in an emergency to confirm that a loved one is really in trouble. Here’s an article that dives into this more deeply.

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Stay Safe!

Tate