Scams and Staying Safe: a free hands-on course for beginners
Seven short lessons on how scams get past careful people, and the checks that catch them. Instead of a list of scary stories, every lesson gives you something to check for yourself: the real address behind a link or a QR code, who actually sent an email, how strong your password really is, and what to do in the first hour if something has already gone wrong.
0 of 7 lessons done
By the end you’ll be able to
- Recognise the four pressure tricks almost every scam uses
- Find the real website behind any link before you tap it
- Read where a QR code goes without opening it
- Check who really sent an email, and whether a domain can be faked
- Use public Wi-Fi and sign-in pages without handing anything over
- Make passwords that hold up, and know exactly what to do after a scam
What you need: a phone or a computer with any modern browser. Lesson 4 is easiest on a computer, with your own email open. No technical background is needed, though Course 1: How the Internet Works explains the addresses and names these lessons mention.
- 1
How Scams Hook You
Learn the four signs the FTC says give almost every scam away, test your instincts on ten real situations, then find them in a message on your own phone.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 2
Read a Link Before You Tap It
Find the one part of a web address that tells you whose site it is, see the link behind any text, and catch letters borrowed from other alphabets.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 3
Check a QR Code Before You Scan It
A QR code is a link you can’t read. Decode one into plain text, read your camera’s preview, and learn what fake parking and “traffic court” codes look like.
Open15 minutes · hands-on - 4
Who Really Sent That Email?
Open an email’s hidden headers, read its SPF, DKIM and DMARC results, compare a real message with a forgery, and check whether a domain can be faked.
Open25 minutes · hands-on - 5
Fake Wi-Fi and Sign-In Pages
See which networks your devices join on their own, tidy the list, and learn the three things a hotel or café sign-in page should never ask for.
Open15 minutes · hands-on - 6
Passwords That Hold Up
Measure a “complex” password against a passphrase, check one against known breaches safely, and add the second step that stops most account takeovers.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 7
If You’ve Been Scammed: The First Hour
What to do, in order, if you’ve paid, clicked or shared something, where to report it, and how to spot the “recovery” scam that often follows.
Open20 minutes · hands-on
What do you know already?
Try these three now, then again when you finish the course. Pick one answer each and you’ll see why.
1. A caller says they’re from your bank’s fraud team and asks you to move your savings to a “safe account” today. What should you do?
2. Which of these links goes to a website owned by PayPal?
3. Someone emails you from “Amazon Support”. What does the name in the From line prove?
This course is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: teachers and learners may share and adapt the lessons for non-commercial use, with credit to ExamineIP and a link to the original. The tools, books and other pages it links to aren’t covered by this licence.