Emergency Family Password

If you have a family, it is a good idea to pick out a code word that everybody knows. It may be a bit on the paranoid side, but it is so easy and it might really come in handy someday. For example, a Dallas newspaper reported on a kidnapping scam that a local couple faced over the summer, that could have been prevented if they had a family codeword.

First the scammers found a ton of personal info about them online - kid's name, mother-in-law's broken foot etc. Then they used a caller ID spoofer to fake a calls from US Marshalls to the woman, informing her that she is in big trouble for missing federal jury duty. They trick her into heading to the courthouse to clear things up, meanwhile calling her husband at work to tell him his wife has been kidnapped. This call comes up on his phone as being from his wife's phone, using the spoofer.

He is ordered to buy prepaid MoneyPak cards, or she will be killed, which he does. Before he can be told what to do with them, his wife calls him and lets him know she is fine, and I guess the bad guys figured it out and disappeared, or the article isn't telling us everything. But the point is, if they had a password, the husband could have insisted that they give him the word or he would know they were lying right off the bat. There are plenty of other situations where this might be of some use, aadn who knows - it could save someone's life. Just make sure you change the word if you ever have to use it, and be sure to tell everyone that needs to know!