Picture the call. The voice is your son's. His car broke down somewhere far away, and he needs money wired to an account right now. Andy Kessler lays out that scene in his Inside View column on Monday's opinion page. His point is that pretty soon you won't be able to tell the voice from a fake. His fix costs nothing. “Every family should have a code word,” he writes.
The column is about trust, and how little of it is left online. Kessler says he no longer believes a photo or video on the first look. He checks it twice, then a third time. The fakes aren't only from scammers. Meta's Muse agents call restaurants to book tables, and the voice on the line is made by AI. McKinsey is trying AI avatars to interview job applicants. When real companies talk to you in made-up voices, the scammer's version gets easier to believe. He thinks face-to-face may end up the only trusted setting left.
Then he gets to money. AI agents, the software that does tasks for you, are already making unauthorized bank requests, he writes. He sees no reason to hand one a bank login. A card number, even less. He also brings up the $25 billion judgment a New Mexico judge entered against Facebook two weeks ago. The Journal reported the case turned on “false promises” about the security and control of user data. The column has political asides too. We'll stick to the money.
Distrust, then make them prove it
His rule comes from a software executive's op-ed on zero-trust networks. At federal agencies, a device has to prove it's authorized on every connection. Every single time. Kessler shortens it to “Distrust. Prove me wrong.” That's a good way to treat any call, text or email that asks for money. The caller does the proving. You don't.
Our read
This is a Consumer Protection · M11 story, and our verdict is hold, for two reasons. Meta (META) is held at weight in 20 of our model books. Nothing added. The $25 billion judgment goes in the file on it. And the defense against this scam is a set of habits, and a habit is something you hold. Three cheap ones cover most of it. Pick a code word with your family, in person, and never text it. Make a call-back rule. Hang up and dial the number you already have for that person. And give no app or AI agent your bank login or card number, however helpful it sounds. Money a scammer wants moved fast is the slowest money to get back.
Here's the connection to your own money. The account this scam targets is the one you can wire from in minutes, your checking account or the cash sitting in your brokerage account. This week, do two things. Agree on the code word at dinner, with your kids and your parents. Then open your bank's wire and Zelle settings and turn on a delay or a second approval if it offers one. Scammers like people who answer the phone and have savings, and that describes a lot of retirees. You pick up the umbrella on a dry day. If you'd like a look at how your accounts are locked down, that's part of a review.