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Faces and voices can be faked
Know that a familiar face or voice on a screen is not proof of who is there, and agree a family word for calls.
1Watch
Four clips
Four clips
Four short video clips of ordinary people saying hello. One is real. Three were made from photos and a few seconds of audio. Nothing is obviously wrong with any of them. It ends on the words 'which one is real'.
24 secondsYou are about to guess. You are also about to be wrong about one, and that is the lesson.
2The idea
It takes a few photos and a minute
You know deepfakes exist. What is newer is how cheap they are. A voice can be copied from a short clip, a face built from an ordinary profile. So a voice on the phone that sounds like your mum is not proof it is your mum.
This is not a reason to be scared of every call. Nearly every call is exactly who it says it is. It is a reason to have one thing a fake cannot know, so that the one call in a thousand does not get anything from you.
3The idea
The family word, and when to ask for it
One word, agreed at the table. Never texted, never posted, never in a bio. You probably already have a pickup word from when you were small; it does the same job for calls now. Ask for it on any call or video that wants something from you: a code, money, a password, ‘come and meet me’, ‘don’t tell anyone’.
If it is really them, the word takes two seconds and they will not mind. If it is not, the word is the one thing a fake cannot pull from their photos. The other proof that always works: hang up and ring the number you already have saved.
4The idea
Watch it work once
A video call from Dad’s account. It looks like him, slightly blurry, a bit stiff. ‘Read me the code that just came to your phone, quick.’ Ben says: what’s the word? A pause. ‘Just read it, I’m in a rush.’ Ben hangs up and rings Dad’s saved number. Dad answers from a meeting. He has not called anyone.
The face was built from Dad’s own profile photos. The word was the one thing they did not have. Dad changes his password that evening. The code that arrived was somebody trying to get into Ben’s account, and Ben reading it out would have opened the door.
5Your turn
Pick the fake
Spot the fake
Four clips. Tap the ones you think are fake. The card reveals the answers, then replays the one you got wrong slowed down, with the tells you could not have seen at normal speed.
Nearly everybody gets one wrong. The people who get all four right usually guessed.
6Decide
A video call comes in from your dad's account. It looks like him, a bit blurry. He asks you to read out a code that just came to your phone. You:
Pick one to carry on.
7Look
What the word is for
The family word
A kitchen noticeboard with a pickup word written small in one corner, and next to it the same word with 'for calls too' added in a different pen.
You probably already have a pickup word from when you were small. It works for calls now. Same word, new job.
8Find them
Which of these can be faked from what is already online about your family?
Tap the ones that count.
Find all 4.
9Say it
Three words that cost nothing
Say it lightly, like you are asking the time
“What's the word?”
You will need it on a call that sounds like family and wants something. Real family answers in two seconds and does not mind.
10Do it
Before you leave this page
Agree a family word for phone and video calls tonight, the same as a pickup word. Say it once at the table. Everybody in the house should know it by bedtime.
Tick it when you have done it.
Lesson done.
A face or a voice is not proof any more. A word only your family knows is.
Next lesson: Your mum's in trouble, don't hang up