Featured guide
How scammers steal your money and information
Most people who lose money to a text or a call were not “hacked.” They were rushed. A lookalike tracking page asks for a $2.99 redelivery fee. A voice claiming to be the bank wants the code that just arrived. A boss on a new number needs gift cards this afternoon. The pattern is the same: fear, a short deadline, and a payment method that cannot be reversed.
This guide walks through the eight tricks that show up again and again — impersonation, lookalike links, gift-card payment, overpayment checks, romance “investment” stories — in language you can forward to a parent. It also points to the free checkers on this site if you have a specific message, number, or QR in front of you.