---
title: "How to Protect Your Family from AI Scams"
published: 2026-09-17
updated: 2026-10-11T00:00:00.000Z
author: "Trust Onion Editorial Team"
canonical: https://trustonion.io/how-to-protect-your-family-from-AI-scams
---

# How to Protect Your Family from AI Scams

**Cite as:** How to Protect Your Family from AI Scams, Trust Onion, 2026-10-11. https://trustonion.io/how-to-protect-your-family-from-AI-scams

AI voice cloning and impersonation scams work by creating urgency before a family has time to verify who is contacting them.

## The family protection plan

1. Set three private family codewords and agree that they are never shared publicly.
2. Ask **"What are the words?"** before money, credentials, or secrets move.
3. Call back using a number already saved in your contacts, not a number supplied by the suspicious caller.
4. Make a family rule that urgency and secrecy are reasons to verify, not reasons to skip verification.
5. Report attempted fraud and contact the bank or payment provider immediately if money was sent.

## Why this works

A cloned voice, text style, or video face can imitate what an attacker observes. A private rotating codeword is knowledge the attacker does not have. Trust Onion's three codewords rotate every 60 seconds, so a static safe word's weak points (leaks, overhearing, forgetting) don't carry over.

**Safety note:** If you cannot reach the person or organization when you call back, do not assume the original caller was really them. For someone in your trusted group, ask them to give all three current words first and check privately in your app; never reveal your words to an unverified caller. For a bank or other organization outside your group, verify through the official app or a number from a card or statement. Use your best judgment, and alert the authorities if you believe someone is in danger.