Scam Checker

Paste the suspicious text, email, or voicemail transcript your parent received. The check runs entirely in your browser — nothing you paste is sent or stored anywhere.

SCAM CHECKERruns in your browser · free · no sign-up


Try an example:


The checker needs JavaScript. The six questions below work without it.

Prefer to reason it out? Six questions.

Answer honestly about the charge, call, email, or package. Two or more “yes” answers means treat it as a scam until proven otherwise.

  1. Did it start with contact they didn’t ask for? A call, email, pop-up, or package that arrived out of nowhere. Legitimate companies rarely initiate; scammers always do.
  2. Is there pressure to act right now? “Your account closes today.” “Your grandson is in jail.” Urgency is the scammer’s most important tool — it exists to stop your parent from checking with anyone.
  3. Are they asked to pay in an unusual way? Gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, cash by courier. No government agency or real business collects payment this way. Ever.
  4. Is there a recurring charge they can’t explain? Check the last three months of statements. Autoship scams live on small monthly charges from names you don’t recognize.
  5. Are they told to keep it secret? “Don’t tell your family.” Any request for secrecy from a stranger is a five-alarm warning — isolation is how scammers keep victims.
  6. Did they “win” something or get a “free trial”? Prizes that require a fee to claim and trials that require a credit card are the two oldest hooks in the book.

Two or More Yes Answers? Do This Now.

  1. Stop contact. Hang up, don’t reply, don’t click. Scammers escalate with engagement.
  2. Call the card’s fraud line — the number on the back of the card, not any number the caller gave you. Dispute the charges and ask for a new card number if a recurring biller has it.
  3. Change passwords on email and banking if anything was clicked or shared, and turn on two-factor authentication.
  4. Report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov — reports build the cases that shut these operations down.
  5. Then work the guides: Money Recovery & Prevention walks through disputes, credit freezes, and locking everything down.

Two companion tools finish the job: if information was shared, build the lockdown plan; and for next time, print the Fridge Sheet for the kitchen.

If your situation doesn’t fit the checker or the questions, describe it to me — I read every one.

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