How a Kinword pact works
Impostor calls work by rushing a kind person into a decision. A pact takes the decision away from the moment: it was already made, by the family, on a calm day.
1. Start a pact for one person
Write the name the family uses for them. You get a private link: no account and no email address. Keep the link like a key.
2. Write it together
Add the people who would really call about money or trouble, and the number you already have for each one. Pick your house rules from the list below, add one of your own, and add the numbers you trust for call-backs, like the bank's number printed on the back of the card.
3. Agree the family question out loud
One question only the real family can answer. You agree the question and the answer at the table. Kinword never stores either; the card has a blank line.
4. Print and put it by the phone
The Fridge Card is free. With Kinword Plus you also get a Wallet Card and a Pause Card, which is the exact words to say, by the phone.
5. Practice, like a fire drill
Read a practice call out loud and choose what to do. Six practice calls are free; Plus has all 24 and keeps a log of who practiced which call.
The house rules you can pick from
- We will never ask you to pay with gift cards, a wire transfer, crypto, a payment app or cash handed to a courier.
- We will never ask you to keep a call secret from the rest of the family.
- If anyone says one of us is in trouble, you hang up and call that person back on the number on this card.
- If a caller says it is one of us, you ask our family question. No answer, no help.
- Your bank will not ask you to move money to keep it "safe". Hang up and call the number on the back of your card.
- Never read out a code that arrives by text. Nobody real needs it from you over the phone.
- Never let a caller or a pop-up onto your computer. Turn it off and call one of us.
- Nobody comes to the house to collect money for us. Do not open the door to a "courier".
- You can always say "I will call you back" and sleep on it. Real problems wait an hour.
- If a call scares you, tell one of us the same day. You will never be in trouble for asking.