Start with the free help
Tools that make the conversation easier to start
If you came here from Fooled, this is the page the book sends you to. Start with the free tools, practical checklists, and trusted reporting resources below. The Parent Protection Playbook is there when your family wants a deeper, ready-to-use plan.
Chapter 10, on one page
The Family Digital Armor Checklist
Nine things, in three sittings. Don't try to do them all at once — that's how people start and stop. Do tonight's three tonight.
Tonight 15 minutes
- Install a password manager One master password. The vault remembers everything else.
- Change your email password Email is the master key. Someone in your inbox can reset every other account you have.
- Turn on 2FA for your email Use an authenticator app rather than text messages wherever the account offers it.
This weekend 1 hour
- Freeze your credit at all three bureaus Free, about ten minutes, and it does not touch your credit score. Links below.
- Turn on 2FA for your bank and cards Five minutes per account. Protects you for as long as you hold it.
- Change your router's default password And rename the network to something that isn't your family's surname.
This month an evening
- Move every password into the manager Start with money and email. Work down from there.
- Back up photos and documents Three copies, two kinds of storage, one of them off-site.
- Turn on 2FA everywhere money moves Amazon, PayPal, Venmo, investment accounts.
Put it on the fridge and tick things off.
The 5 questions that expose a cloned voice on the phone, and the family safe word that stops it in one line.
Free tools
Use these together tonight
Free
Scam Detector
Paste in a suspicious message or describe a situation. Get help spotting the red flags and choosing the next step.
Free
Voice Clone Education Demo
Hear, in a controlled setting, what it sounds like when a familiar voice begs for help, so your family can make a verification plan before the real call comes.
Free
The Scam Hotline Brief
A five-minute weekly read that keeps your family aware of what is happening now and gives you one conversation to have that week.
Free · about 3 minutes
What is your Family Protection Score?
Ten questions, about three minutes.
Optional
Get the new scams before they reach your family
Scam scripts change every few weeks. We send one short email when something new is actually working — what it sounds like, and the one thing that breaks it. No daily newsletter, no pitch stack.
We will never sell your address, and we will never ask you for a password, a verification code, or an account number — not by email, not ever. Unsubscribe in one click. Privacy policy.
The list from the back of the book
Tools we actually trust
Short on purpose. Start with the free ones — for most families they are enough. Add a paid one only when you know what you are buying it for.
Passwords & account security
- Bitwarden Password manager. The free tier is genuinely enough, and it stores 2FA codes too. Free
- 1Password The easiest one to get a whole family onto. Shared family vault. Paid
- Google Authenticator Two-factor codes. Simple, reliable, free. Free
A correction to the book: Chapter 10 recommends Authy. Twilio has since retired the Authy desktop app — the phone app still works, but if you are starting fresh today, use Bitwarden's built-in codes or Google Authenticator instead.
Credit & identity
- AnnualCreditReport.com The only federally authorised source for your free credit reports. Not affiliated with us — just vital. Free
- Equifax freeze Credit freeze. Free, and it does not affect your score. Free
- Experian freeze Do all three bureaus, or the freeze has a gap in it. Free
- TransUnion freeze The third one. Ten minutes total for all three. Free
- Aura Family-focused identity and credit monitoring, if you want monitoring on top of a freeze. Paid
- LifeLock Identity monitoring with a recovery service attached. Paid
Devices & backups
- Malwarebytes Malware protection that actually works. The free scanner is fine for most people. Free
- Norton 360 Antivirus and VPN bundled, for families with kids online. Paid
- Cloud backup Google Drive, iCloud or Dropbox. Any of them beats none of them. Turn on photo sync and stop thinking about it. Low cost
Where to report it
- ReportFraud.ftc.gov The Federal Trade Commission. Report here first — it feeds the national picture. Free
- IC3.gov The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. File here if money was sent or received, or an account was taken over. Free
- CFPB For anything involving a bank, a lender, or a money transfer that won't resolve. Free
- BBB Scam Tracker Search a scam that's already circulating, or add the one that reached you. Free
We are not paid by any company on this list, and nothing here is a paid placement. If that ever changes, this line will say so.
Has money already moved?
Stop reading this page. The first hours are the only hours where the money can still be stopped, and the steps are not obvious.
Want to talk to a person?
AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline · 877-908-3360
Free, open to anyone — you do not have to be a member. Many of the volunteers on the
other end were scammed themselves. They have heard it before, and they do not judge.
We are an educational service, not an emergency line. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.
When you're ready for the whole plan
You've hardened your own accounts. The harder problem is the conversation with your parents.
The Parent Protection Playbook is the part this page can't do for you: the words to open with, the safeguards to set up together, and what to do when they get defensive — without taking away their independence.
- ✓Word-for-word scripts for the conversation nobody wants to start
- ✓The family safe word, set up in one evening
- ✓Five questions that reveal a romance scammer without accusing anyone
- ✓The first-72-hours plan, if it has already happened
$39 one time
Last reviewed 31 August 2026. Links on this page are checked quarterly — if one is broken, tell us at About & ContactPress & Media.