Your clients survived another year. But scammers are getting better and better.
Our most recent data has stated that artificial intelligence transformed fraud from a technical threat into an everyday weapon in 2024. AI phishing attacks surged by more than 4,000% since ChatGPT’s public launch, and deepfake fraud attacks have increased more than 2,000% since 2022.
The FBI documented $16.6 billion in reported losses in 2024, a 33% increase from 2023. Additionally, the FTC tracked $12.5 billion in consumer fraud losses, up 25% year-over-year.
The gap between awareness and action is evident. A Horsesmouth survey found that 82% of advisors have clients who have been targeted by fraud, and 58% have seen their clients lose money. Yet, many advisors haven’t implemented basic safeguards: Only 75% encourage Trusted Contacts, and just 46% use Secure Access Codes.
Here are five steps you can implement during your Q1 meetings with clients.
1. Establish or update their Trusted Contact
Ask every client: “Who should we contact if we observe unusual activity or can’t reach you?” You should document multiple contact methods—cell phone, email, secondary family member.
Frame it as part of your annual review by saying: “We’re strengthening our fraud prevention protocols. Can we confirm who we should reach out to if we notice something unusual?”
Why it matters: From our Horsesmouth survey, when it came to advisors successfully stopping fraud, notifying family members was one of the most common actions, but only if you know who to call.
2. Implement the family safe word protocol
If you haven’t already introduced this to clients, Q1 is your time to do so. A family safe word: a unique phrase known only to immediate family members, remains the single most effective defense against AI voice cloning scams.
We covered this protocol in detail in “The Five-Minute Holiday Conversation That Could Save Your Clients Thousands.” The short version: Advise your clients to choose a word or phrase that would never appear on social media, and establish the rule that any emergency money request must include the code word. No code word? Hang up and call them back.
Why it matters: Voice cloning requires as little as three seconds of audio from social media, voicemails, or Zoom calls.
3. Train clients on the ‘Irreversible Payment Red Flag’
Give clients a simple one-pager and phrase it as: “If they ask for these payment methods, it’s always a scam.”
List gift cards, Bitcoin/crypto, wire transfers to unfamiliar accounts, payment apps to strangers, and cash in a box.
Be sure to make it clear to them by saying, “If anyone, even if it sounds like me or a family member, asks you to pay with one of these methods, it’s a scam. Hang up. Call me. Do not send the money.”
Why it matters: Cryptocurrency fraud accounted for $9.3 billion in losses in 2024.
4. Create a two-channel verification protocol
We covered this extensively in “The Universal Defense That Stops Modern Scams,” but it bears repeating in the context of client account management: Establish a simple rule that if a request comes in via email, verify by phone; if it comes in via phone, verify via a different number.
Document a personal question only the real person would know and not something that someone could find online.
The “Stop, Search, Speak” protocol works: Hang up, find the number of the purported caller independently (never use contact information from suspicious communication), and call back.
Why it matters: Our most recent fraud survey revealed that multiple advisors stopped fraud by calling to verify unusual requests and discovered hacked emails or impersonators.
5. Schedule cognitive continuity check for vulnerable clients
For clients who are 70 and older, build in a gentle cognitive check during annual reviews. Are they repeating questions? Struggling to follow conversation?
Document changes and consider bringing in the Trusted Contact. Approach it sensitively: “I like to check in about how you’re feeling about managing finances. Sometimes it helps to bring in a family member—not because you can’t handle it, but because it gives you a second set of eyes.”
Why it matters: Older adults accounted for $4.8 billion in fraud losses, averaging $83,000 per victim. And our recent survey showed that 74% of advisors have suspected cognitive impairment made clients more vulnerable.
Making this actually happen
The mistake most advisors make with fraud prevention is thinking of it as a separate conversation. It’s not. It’s five minutes integrated into a review you’re already doing.
When a client sits down for their Q1 review, after you’ve covered performance and before you discuss rebalancing, say: “Before we move on, I want to spend five minutes making sure you’re protected. Can we run through a quick fraud prevention update?”
Then, work through these five protocols systematically: Confirm their trusted contact, introduce or remind them about the family safe word, verify they understand payment red flags, review your two-channel verification process, and assess whether additional protections are needed for vulnerable clients.
Most clients will appreciate the attention. Many will be grateful. And all of them will leave feeling that you’re not just managing their money, you’re protecting it.
You can’t stop every scam. But you can make sure that when a client gets that phone call with their grandson’s cloned voice that they pause, verify, and call you first. Because that pause could mean everything.