How scams hook you
Scams don’t work because people are foolish. They work because they’re built to make you act before you’ve had time to think. The good news is that almost all of them are built the same way. In this lesson you’ll learn the four signs that give them away, test your instincts, and then find those signs in a real message on your own phone.
In this lesson
- Learn the four signs that a message or call is a scam
- Test yourself on ten real-world situations
- Pick apart a scam message from your own spam folder
You’ll need: a phone or computer, and access to your text messages or your email’s spam folder.
The four signs
The US Federal Trade Commission, which collects millions of fraud reports, boils the warning signs down to four. A message doesn’t need all of them to be a scam. One is enough to stop and check.
- They pretend to be someone you trust. A bank, a delivery company, the tax office, the police, a well-known shop, or a relative. Names, logos and even the number on your caller ID can all be faked.
- There’s a problem or a prize. Your account is locked, a parcel can’t be delivered, you owe a fine, a family member is in trouble, or you’ve won something and only need to pay a small fee to collect it.
- They push you to act now. Pay today, or your account closes, your licence is suspended, or the police get involved. The deadline exists so you don’t have time to ask anyone.
- They want paying in a particular way. Gift cards, cryptocurrency, a wire transfer, a payment app, or moving your money to a “safe account”. These are chosen because once the money’s gone, it’s almost impossible to get back.
Notice what’s not on the list: spelling mistakes. Scam messages used to give themselves away with bad grammar, and many still do, but AI tools now write flawless ones in any language. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report counted AI-related scams separately for the first time and recorded 22,364 complaints. The four signs still work, because they’re about what the message wants from you, not how well it’s written.
Try it yourself · part 1
Test your instincts
- Open the Scam Test. It shows ten real-world situations, one at a time: texts, calls, emails and video calls.
- For each one, decide quickly, the way you would in real life, and tap Scam or Legit. An explanation appears after every answer.
- At the end, write down your score. Then go back over any you got wrong and ask: which of the four signs was there, and why did you miss it?
Some of the situations are genuine. That matters: being suspicious of everything isn’t the goal. Knowing what to check is.
What the signs sound like
| Sign | What it often sounds like |
|---|---|
| Pretends to be someone you trust | “This is your bank’s fraud team.” “Royal Mail: your parcel is on hold.” “Hi Mum, I’ve got a new number.” |
| A problem or a prize | “Unusual sign-in detected.” “Unpaid toll.” “You’ve been selected for a refund.” |
| Pressure to act now | “Within 24 hours.” “Final notice.” “Don’t tell anyone, it’s confidential.” |
| A particular way to pay | “Buy gift cards and read me the codes.” “Send it in Bitcoin.” “Move your savings to a safe account.” |
Try it yourself · part 2
Pick apart a real one
- Find a scam message you’ve actually received. Good places to look: your email’s Spam or Junk folder, or texts from numbers you don’t know. On iPhone, filtered texts are under Messages, Filters, Unknown Senders; on Android, look in your messages app’s Spam and blocked folder.
- Don’t tap any link in it, and don’t reply. Replying, even “STOP”, tells the sender your number is real. Reading it is safe.
- Go through it and note which of the four signs it uses. Who is it pretending to be? What’s the problem or prize? Where’s the pressure? How does it want you to pay or act?
- Then ask the most useful question of all: if this were real, how would I check without using anything in the message? Write down the answer, for example “open my bank’s app” or “call the number on my card”.
The habit that beats all four: contact them yourself
Every scam depends on you using the contact details it gives you: the link, the phone number, the reply address. So the single best defence is to never use them. If a message says there’s a problem with your bank, close it and open your bank’s app, or call the number printed on your card. If a call claims to be from the police or a company, hang up and call back on a number you’ve found yourself. A real organisation will still be there when you call back. A scam won’t.
And treat the way they want to be paid as the loudest alarm. A government agency or a real business won’t ask you to pay with gift cards, and no real bank will ask you to move your money to keep it safe.
Key takeaways
- Four signs give away almost every scam: pretending to be someone you trust, a problem or prize, pressure to act now, and a particular way to pay.
- Good spelling no longer means a message is genuine.
- Never use the link, number or reply address in a suspicious message. Contact the organisation yourself.
- Gift cards, crypto, wire transfers and “safe accounts” are the loudest alarm of all.
Check yourself
Three questions. Pick one answer each and you’ll see why.
1. A text from your “delivery company” says a parcel is on hold and asks for a small re-delivery fee by tomorrow. Which signs does it show?
2. A message is perfectly written, with no mistakes at all. What does that tell you?
3. You think a call from your bank might be real. What’s the safest way to find out?
Want every situation from the test explained in more depth? The Scam Test page covers how AI changed scams and the red flags it can’t remove.
This lesson is part of the free course Scams and Staying Safe, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: you may share and adapt it for non-commercial use, with credit to ExamineIP and a link to the original.