The rules to agree on as a family
Several scams rely on imitating someone close or on isolating someone. The encyclopedia's articles answer them with rules to agree on together: they are gathered here, word for word, with a link to the article each comes from. To print and read through together.
Rules agreed on together
Agree on a family reflex: a new number is confirmed by calling the old one.
Article: Impersonating a relative by message
Choose a question or family password that only you know.
Article: Impersonating a relative by message
Agree with family and colleagues that a request for money is always confirmed by voice.
Article: Identity impersonation
Share this rule with people close to you: a voice is no longer enough to prove identity.
Article: Voice cloning
Talk about it, right away
Tell someone close to you about any online relationship as soon as it becomes important: isolation is what this fraud needs.
Article: Romance scam
Ask your bank or someone close for an opinion before any new investment.
Article: Investment scam
Agree with someone close that you would tell them right away.
Article: AI misuse of photos
Remember that you are not the one at fault: talking about it takes the blackmail's power away.
Article: Sextortion
Don't stay alone with it: telling someone is already a protection.
Article: Cyberharassment
What you show online
Post fewer details that can be cross-referenced: employer, city, children's first names.
Article: Data scraping
Hide your contact list from the public.
Article: Social media profile impersonation
Limit your photos' visibility to your contacts, knowing this reduces the risk without removing it.
Article: AI misuse of photos
When it happens to one of you
Warn family members who could receive the same message.
Article: Impersonating a relative by message
Keep the habit of saving evidence before blocking.
Article: Cyberharassment
The scams this checklist defeats
Practice on these scams
Fictional messages, to decide without risk.
- Simulation: Social media profile impersonationA friend tells you about a second profile in your name, with your photos, that is asking her for money.
- Simulation: Investment scamA very available advisor offers you 9% guaranteed, and a first withdrawal did work.
- Simulation: Romance scamAfter three months of daily messages, a first request for money arrives.
- Simulation: Impersonating a relative by message"It's me, I got a new number" — followed by an urgent bill to pay.
- Simulation: AI misuse of photosA message from an unknown account claims to have images of you and demands a payment.
- Simulation: Voice cloningA panicked call: the voice, which you recognize, asks for an immediate transfer for an emergency.
Step-by-step guides
If it already happened
- The first steps, in order: the emergency checklistThe first steps, in order, depending on what you gave away: money, bank details, a password, access to a device or an account.
- The “I clicked” assistant: the plan of steps for your situationTwo questions — what you did, how it reached you — and the plan of steps to take, in order of urgency. To print or send to someone close. Nothing is stored.
The other checklists
- The checklist for an older relativeFake bank advisor, fake tech support, fake prize, premium-rate text: the reflexes that protect, on one page to print and give to a relative.
- The checklist for a small businessDual approval for transfers, IBAN changes confirmed on the known number, invoices without a purchase order: the procedures that protect a small business, on one page to print.