Tuesday, August 6, 2024

I’ve been thinking about your secret code or phrase for security purposes.  If you haven’t yet established one with key people in your life (both personal and professional) please do. The deepfakes are running rampant.  It seems no one is exempt, whether you’re somebody’s beloved Grammy or an executive at Ferrari.  Did you see the latest?

An executive at Ferrari was contacted via WhatsApp by someone pretending to be the company’s CEO asking, “Hey, did you hear about the big acquisition we’re planning?  I could need your help.”  The conversation continued back and forth for a time, and eventually the scammer called the executive to get down to the details.  Using AI technology, the voice and even the specific accent of the “caller” sounded remarkably like the CEO.  It said they needed to discuss a “China-related deal” that, of course, was going to require a huge financial transaction.

Suspicious, the targeted executive employed the simple trick we’ve talked about here previously, including in this post from February.  He asked the “caller” a personal question that only the legitimate CEO would know.  The question was simple: “You recently recommended a book to me, what was the name of that book?”  Unable to answer the question correctly, the scammers realized they were found out and they had to abandon the attempt.  They immediately hung up and have not attempted to contact the executive again.

If that sounds like a pressure-filled professional circumstance, it was. You’d hate to be the key person the CEO is relying on to help facilitate a major acquisition who couldn’t be counted on to do your part.  Yet those are the easiest of attempts to thwart.  Business protocols have often baked in some level of validation for these types of circumstances.

The attempts that are harder to thwart, however, are when they target you personally.  In these cases, emotions are exploited to a much greater degree.

Imagine you or your elderly parent receive a phone call. It’s your child’s voice on the line, stating that they’ve been in an accident, have been rushed to the hospital, and the hospital needs a deposit to begin treatment.

Or imagine it’s a FaceTime call or other video service.  This time it’s the child’s face and voice, describing a terrible situation they’re in that can only be solved by your acting quickly and sending money.  If you ask questions such as “Where are you?” or “What’s going on?” they can answer.  It’s quite convincing.  Yet on the other end of the line, someone is just typing answers in an AI voice and face generator.  You’re having a conversion with crooks and pixels.

Or how about this one? Your grandson calls to say someone has been trying to access your bank account, but he has realized what’s going on and is going to help you fight it.  “I just need you to add my phone number to your bank’s two-factor authentication validator.  That way I’ll get a warning anytime someone tries to access your account.  I’ll help keep you safe.”  Would you do it?

I know it can sound paranoid to ask those closest to you in life to establish a key word or phrase to validate their identity.  But you need to do it anyway.

If something fishy comes your way and you haven’t yet established a key word or phrase, be quick on your feet and ask the solicitor a question only the actual person they’re claiming to be would  know the answer to.  Some examples of good questions are: What did we have to eat the last time we saw each other?  What was your first word?  What is our family tradition every New Year’s Eve?

Don’t ask things that can be ascertained via the web or social media such as: Where did you go on vacation last summer?  What city did you grow up in?  What’s the name of your new pet?  Any scammer who has done their homework will have searched the social media of the relative they’re impersonating.  You’d be surprised how convincingly and quickly they can answer those types of questions.

And by all means, whether it happens in your personal or professional life, never feel embarrassed about taking these steps.  If the person is actually and legitimately the person you think they are, they’ll be glad you did.  If they’re not the person they’re pretending to be, they’ll scurry away out of your life as quickly as they arrived.  Then you can just hang back and wait for the next one.

Until Next Time,

Mary Schuster
Chief Knowledge Officer
October Research, LLC