Appendix B — The Safety Card

“The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” — Proverbs 22:3 (ESV)

This is the one page to keep where you can find it — printed on the fridge, folded in the Bible, photographed on your phone. It gathers every defensive habit from Lessons 6, 7, and 8 into a card you can act from in thirty seconds, on the day something feels wrong.

It’s short on purpose. You don’t need to memorize it; you need to know where it is.

Never share — with anyone who contacts you

No real bank, government agency, company, pastor, or family member needs these from you over a call, text, email, or chat that they initiated. The request itself is the warning.

• Passwords — any of them, ever.
• Verification codes texted to your phone. Whoever asks you to read one back is stealing the key to your account.
• Full card, bank-account, or Social Security numbers.
• Remote access to your computer (“let me connect and fix it”).
• Payment by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency — the currencies of scams, chosen because they can’t be reversed.

If you’re ever unsure: share nothing, hang up, and verify. You can always call back. You can never un-send a code.

The pause that defeats everything

Every scam runs on the same fuel: urgency plus secrecy. “Act now.” “Don’t hang up.” “Don’t tell anyone.” “Keep this between us.”

So the master habit is one move: when anything urgent arrives, pause and verify out-of-band — through a channel the other party doesn’t control:

1. Hang up / don’t click / don’t reply.
2. Go around the message: call the number on the back of your card, or from the church directory, or the loved one’s number saved in your phone — never a number or link the message gave you.
3. Then decide, calmly, with real information.

Real emergencies survive a two-minute callback. Manufactured ones evaporate under it.

The voice may be fake — the code word isn’t

AI can clone a familiar voice from a few seconds of audio. A panicked call that sounds exactly like your child or grandchild — in trouble, needing money quietly and now — may not be them at all.

• Pause. (Real emergencies survive it.)
• Hang up and call them back on the number you already have.
• Ask for the family code word. Agree on one this week — a word or question only your household would know. No word, no money, no exceptions. Keep it off the internet.

Two scams to know by name

• The pastor gift-card message. “It’s Pastor — I need a favor, quietly. Buy gift cards and text me the codes.” No real pastor asks this. Verify with a call to the church office, every time — and churches: announce publicly that no funds request will ever come by text.
• The disaster charity appeal. After every tragedy, moving AI-written appeals (with AI-made photos) arrive within hours. Give generously — through your church or charities you already know, at websites you typed yourself. Never through an arriving link.

Before you share anything online

The thirty-second version of Lesson 8’s five questions:

Read it fully → Who says so? → Is it current and in context? → Second independent source? → Would I stake my name on it?

Any “no” means don’t share. Sharing is bearing witness; your name goes with it.

If it happens anyway

Fast beats embarrassed — act within the hour if you can:

1. Money involved? Call your bank or card company immediately — the number on the back of the card. Ask for the fraud department.
2. Report it (U.S.): reportfraud.ftc.gov — quick, free, and it protects the next person.
3. Passwords or codes shared? Change that password now, everywhere you reuse it. Turn on two-step verification where offered.
4. Remote access granted? Turn the computer off and get a trusted technician (or a capable relative) to check it before you use it for banking.
5. Tell someone you trust. Family, pastor, a friend. Being scammed is not foolishness and not sin — these operations are engineered by professionals and rehearsed on thousands. “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2, ESV). The silent victim protects only the wolf.

Who to call for a live human

• Your bank — the number printed on your card, no other.
• The church office — for anything claiming to be from church leadership.
• Your family’s designated tech helper — decide who that is now, and put their name here: ____________
• Your local library — most offer free help with phones, accounts, and scam questions.
• The FTC (U.S.) — reportfraud.ftc.gov for scams; identitytheft.gov if your identity was misused.

The one-line summary

Slow down, share nothing, go around the message, and check with someone you trust. Almost every trick on earth dies against that sentence.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful” (1 Peter 5:8, ESV) — and then rest easy. Watchfulness is not fear; it’s the doorkeeper that lets your generosity stay soft and your household sleep well.