Research
Scammers may use public information, leaked data, social media, or lucky guesses to sound believable.
Resources
Learn the scammer’s process before someone tries to use it against you.
Scams do not only happen to careless people. Modern scams are designed to look normal, urgent, official, or personal. The goal of this page is not to scare you. The goal is to help you recognize the pattern.
Why this matters
Online scams are not rare, and they do not only happen to people who visit risky websites. Many scams start with ordinary-looking emails, text messages, phone calls, delivery notices, bank alerts, fake invoices, tech-support popups, job offers, romance messages, or messages that appear to come from a real company.
In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission received 6.5 million consumer reports involving fraud, identity theft, and other consumer protection issues.
The FBI’s 2024 Internet Crime Complaint Center report listed $16.6 billion in total reported losses to internet crime. Reported losses for people age 60 and older were about $4.8 billion.
Those numbers are not here to create fear. They are here to make one thing clear: this can happen to smart, careful people. The best defense is not panic. The best defense is learning the patterns and slowing the process down.
The pattern
How scams usually work
The details change, but many scams follow a similar path.
Contact
They reach out by phone, email, text, social media, mail, popup, or even through a fake website.
Pressure
They create urgency, fear, curiosity, romance, authority, or a “limited time” opportunity.
Isolation
They may tell you not to talk to your bank, family, police, or anyone who might slow things down.
Payment or access
They push for money, gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, remote access, passwords, or verification codes.
Real facts do not prove the caller is real.
A scammer may know your name, address, phone number, family information, workplace, bank name, or part of an old password. That can feel convincing, but it does not prove the person contacting you is legitimate.
The safer rule is simple: do not use the phone number, link, or instructions from the message. Go directly to the official website, official app, paper statement, or a trusted phone number you already know is real.
Common scams
Different stories, similar pressure.
Phishing emails and texts
Messages that pretend to be from banks, delivery companies, stores, streaming services, or government agencies.
Tech support scams
Popups or calls claiming your computer is infected and asking you to call a number or install remote access software.
Bank and fraud department impersonation
Calls or texts claiming suspicious activity and pressuring you to share codes, move money, or “secure” your account.
Grandparent and family emergency scams
Urgent messages claiming a loved one is hurt, arrested, stranded, or needs money immediately.
Romance and friendship scams
Longer-term trust-building that eventually turns into requests for money, gift cards, crypto, or financial help.
Investment and cryptocurrency scams
Promises of high returns, secret opportunities, fake account dashboards, or pressure to move money quickly.
Before you click, reply, call back, or pay
- Pause. Urgency is one of the scammer’s favorite tools.
- Do not click links in unexpected messages.
- Do not call back using a number from a suspicious message.
- Do not share verification codes, passwords, or remote access.
- Do not move money because someone on the phone told you to.
- Verify using a trusted source: the official app, official website, paper statement, or known phone number.
- Ask someone you trust before acting on a scary or urgent request.
If you think something happened
Do not panic, and do not let embarrassment keep you quiet. Scammers are professional pressure-builders. The next best step is to slow down and limit damage.
- Stop communicating with the suspicious person or number.
- Contact your bank or card company using a trusted number.
- Change important passwords from a clean, trusted device.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication where possible.
- Consider freezing your credit with the major credit bureaus.
- Report fraud to appropriate agencies.
Trusted reporting and learning links
These are official or widely trusted starting points. They are provided for convenience and education.
You do not have to figure it out alone.
If a message, call, account, or security question has you unsure what to do next, ask for help before acting.
Contact Digital Safety HelpSources for statistics and guidance
Statistics and general scam guidance on this page are based on public information from the Federal Trade Commission, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.