Scam types
Common scam types
Learn the mechanics behind common impersonation, phishing, investment, job, marketplace, romance, extortion and account-takeover scams.
Scam stories change constantly, but the underlying pressure tactics repeat. Understanding the mechanism is usually more useful than memorizing one script.
A single incident can belong to several categories. A romance scam can turn into investment fraud. A package-delivery text is often phishing. A bank impersonation call may become a remote-access scam. Recovery scams specifically target people who already lost money.
Scam type is different from delivery channel
Email, SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, phone calls, social media, QR codes and online ads are channels. Impersonation, investment fraud, fake employment and extortion are mechanisms. The same mechanism can move across several channels during one scam.
That distinction matters because blocking one message does not necessarily end the scam. The safest response is to understand what the person is trying to make you do and verify that action independently.
Impersonation and urgent stories
Impersonation and urgent stories
Scams that borrow the identity of a trusted person, company, authority or service to make an unusual request feel legitimate.
Bank impersonation scams: the “protect your money” trap
How fake bank fraud alerts and security calls pressure people to move money, share codes or install remote-access software.
Read guide →GuideCharity and disaster-donation scams: generosity under time pressure
How fake charities and charity impersonators exploit disasters, emergencies and emotional causes — and how to verify where a donation will actually go.
Read guide →GuideFamily-emergency and voice-cloning scams: “I need money right now”
How scammers impersonate relatives or friends in emergencies, including calls that may use AI-generated or cloned voices.
Read guide →GuideImpersonation scams: when a trusted identity is the bait
How scammers impersonate government agencies, companies, banks, police, employers, friends and other trusted identities to create urgency and control the next step.
Read guide →GuidePackage-delivery scams: fake missed deliveries, customs fees and tracking links
How fake courier and postal messages use expected parcels, small delivery fees and tracking links to steal card details, credentials or device access.
Read guide →GuidePrize, lottery and unexpected-money scams: pay first to receive something that is not real
How fake prizes, lotteries, rebates, inheritances and grants use unexpected money as bait for fees, identity data or hard-to-reverse payments.
Read guide →GuideTech-support and remote-access scams: fake warnings that hand over your device
How fake security warnings and support calls lead people to install remote-access tools, reveal banking information or pay for a problem that does not exist.
Read guide →Digital access and phishing
Digital access and phishing
Scams that use links, QR codes, login pages or account compromise to steal credentials, access or information.
Account takeover and identity scams: when someone gets inside your digital life
Warning signs and first actions when scammers steal login credentials, hijack email or social accounts, change recovery details or use personal information for fraud.
Read guide →GuideClickFix scams: why fake verification pages ask you to run commands
Understand ClickFix scams that imitate CAPTCHA or security checks and tell you to open Run, PowerShell, Command Prompt or Terminal and paste a command.
Read guide →GuideFake ChatGPT and AI-tool websites, apps and downloads
Learn how fake ChatGPT and AI-tool sites, apps, ads and downloads impersonate popular AI brands to steal credentials, payments or install malware.
Read guide →GuidePhishing scams: how they work and how to verify a message
Recognize phishing in email, text and chat messages, including realistic messages that use familiar brands and urgent account warnings.
Read guide →GuideQR-code phishing (“quishing”): when the link is hidden in a square
How malicious QR codes hide phishing links in emails, signs, invoices, parking meters and unexpected packages — and how to verify before opening them.
Read guide →Money, payments and business fraud
Money, payments and business fraud
Scams built around investments, invoices, checks, cryptocurrency, payment redirection or laundering stolen funds.
Business email compromise and invoice-redirection scams
How criminals hijack or imitate business email conversations to redirect legitimate invoices, payroll or executive payments to accounts they control.
Read guide →GuideCryptocurrency scams: fake investments, wallet transfers and recovery traps
How scams use cryptocurrency as an investment story, payment rail or supposedly private recovery mechanism.
Read guide →GuideFake-check and overpayment scams: money appears before the loss is discovered
Why a deposited check can appear available before being found fraudulent, and how scammers exploit that delay in jobs, prizes and marketplace transactions.
Read guide →GuideInvestment scams: guaranteed returns, fake platforms and pressure to add more money
Recognize investment scams that promise unusually high or guaranteed returns, show fake profits and make withdrawals conditional on more payments.
Read guide →GuideMoney-mule recruitment: when a “job” turns you into the payment route
How criminals recruit people to receive, move, convert or forward stolen funds through bank accounts, cryptocurrency, payment apps or purchased goods.
Read guide →Relationships, jobs and transactions
Relationships, jobs and transactions
Scams that exploit trust, opportunity, shopping, work or romantic relationships before introducing a financial request.
Job scams: fake hiring, upfront fees and task schemes
Red flags for fake jobs, work-from-home offers, reshipping roles, fake-check hiring and jobs that require you to pay first.
Read guide →GuideMarketplace scams: fake sellers, buyers and payment tricks
How scams on marketplaces and social-media selling platforms use off-platform payments, fake confirmations, overpayments and delivery stories.
Read guide →GuideRomance scams: when a relationship becomes a money request
How romance scammers build trust, avoid meeting, create emergencies and sometimes pivot into cryptocurrency or investment schemes.
Read guide →GuideWhatsApp job offer scams: verify unexpected calls and recruiters
Received an automated job-offer call or unexpected WhatsApp recruitment message? Verify the employer, vacancy and payment requests before responding.
Read guide →Extortion, recovery and repeat targeting
Extortion, recovery and repeat targeting
Scams that use threats, intimate material, prior victimization or fear of consequences to extract more money or information.
Recovery scams: when scammers target people who already lost money
How fake investigators, lawyers, regulators and recovery agents use a previous scam loss to demand more money or personal information.
Read guide →GuideSextortion scams: threats to expose intimate images or fabricated evidence
How financially motivated sextortion uses real, manipulated or entirely fabricated intimate material to demand money and keep victims under pressure.
Read guide →