Call-back check
Also called callback verification, call back, out-of-band verification
Checking an unexpected request by contacting the person or organisation yourself, on a number or channel you already trust.
A call-back check moves the conversation out of the scammer's hands. Whatever arrived (an email, a call, a text, a video meeting) stays unconfirmed until you've reached the real person through a route you chose: the number on the back of your card, the company directory, a contact saved long ago.
AI has made this the most important check there is. Voices can be cloned, faces swapped on live video and writing styles copied, so how a request looks or sounds can no longer settle anything. In a test by Google's Mandiant team, a cloned voice of a manager talked an employee into running harmful software; the advice afterwards was to hang up and call back.
It costs a minute and a little awkwardness. Real colleagues and banks expect it.
For example
An email from the CEO asks for an urgent transfer, so you ring the CEO on the number in the company directory before doing anything.
Put it to use
Where you'll meet call-back check in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, how to use it there, and the mix-up most people make.
Daily Bytes Plus is in the Android app.