STUDboardsPlay · Research · Self · Fit · Money · Learn · Study · Plan · Token STUDtokenOptional

STUDlearn · Money

Everyday fraud literacy

Also known as

scam · fraud · imposter · job scam · task scam · AI voice · family emergency scam · deepfake CEO · CEO fraud · business email compromise · BEC · romance scam · pig butchering · gift card scam · wire fraud · phishing

Named sources. May be wrong or incomplete. Not medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice.

Open in the directory ↗

Pause a money or identity request, check it on a channel you already trust, and report what you find.

An adult at a kitchen table comparing a phone message with a paper statement

What would help today?

Check a job or task offer before you pay or deposit
Check the offer
Search the company and recruiter with “scam,” and discuss it with someone you trust.
Money request
Do not pay to get hired or send money from a deposited check.

A text can name a well-known company, a remote title, and daily pay while the real request is your money or your identity. A task scam is fake work that starts with small ratings or errands and later asks you to deposit your own funds. The Federal Trade Commission’s April 2026 alert describes recruiters who ask you to reply YES, then use a fake check or a paid-task story. FBI IC3 counted 24,688 employment-scam complaints in 2025 with about $363 million in reported losses. Search the company and the recruiter with the word scam, talk with someone you trust, and do not pay to get hired or send money from a deposited check. This is a checking habit, not a claim that every listing is fake.

Sources 4
Verify a family-emergency call on a number you already trust
Verify independently
Hang up and call the family member on a number you already have.
Bring in support
Tell another trusted person even if the caller demanded secrecy; a familiar-sounding voice is not enough.

A panicked call can sound like a child or sibling in an accident, a jail, or a hospital. Voice cloning copies a short public audio clip and plays it back as if that person were speaking. The FTC’s fake-emergency guidance says not to trust the voice on the line, even when it sounds familiar, and to hang up or ask a question only the real person would know. Then call the family member on a number you already have, and tell another trusted person even if the caller asked for secrecy. Gift cards, wires, and cryptocurrency are not how bail or hospital bills work. Checking is how you help the real person; it is not a failure of care.

Sources 2
Confirm a payment request through a known work channel
Before a changed payment
Confirm the instructions using a phone number from your known contact list, not the incoming message.
For email, voice, or video
Use the same independent check even when the request appears to come from a familiar boss.

An email, text, or video can look like a boss asking for a quiet, urgent transfer to a new account. Business email compromise, often called CEO fraud, is a payment request that borrows an executive’s name, mailbox, or now a cloned voice or deepfake video. FBI IC3 recorded about $3.05 billion in reported BEC losses in 2025 and, for the first time, counted AI-related complaints that included voice clones and believable videos. CISA’s BEC guidance is to confirm a change in payment instructions on a phone number from a known contact list, not from the message itself. Perry Carpenter’s 2026 KnowBe4 teaching is to slow down and ask a critical question rather than rely on a detector. A familiar face on a call is a reason to verify, not a reason to skip the process.

Sources 5
Treat a money request from an online romance as fraud
When money is requested
Stop the payment, keep the messages, and talk with someone you trust.
Report
Use ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The person targeted is not to blame for the fraud.

Someone can spend weeks messaging warmth, then ask for a ticket, a medical bill, a crypto “investment,” or a gift-card PIN. A romance scam is fraud that uses a false intimate relationship to get money. This page is not a dating guide; dating remains a closed STUDlearn topic. The FTC’s romance-scam article treats the money request as the crime and tells people to talk with someone they trust. In 2025 people reported about $1.48 billion in romance-scam losses to the FTC, and nearly 60 percent of those who lost money said it started on social media. Cassandra Cross’s research names the request as a crime and warns against blaming the person who was targeted. Stop the payment, keep the messages, and report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Sources 7

Good to know. This is a reading companion, not legal, financial, tax, or law-enforcement advice, and not a promise that you will never be scammed. Named agencies and complaint routes are U.S.-centered; use the regulator and police in your country. If someone is in immediate physical danger, call local emergency services first. Money withheld or controlled by a partner can be financial abuse; use a safer device and an advocate if checking accounts could increase danger. Romance-scam copy here is fraud literacy, not a dating guide; dating remains a closed STUDlearn topic. IdentityTheft.gov is the U.S. recovery planner when personal information was misused. AARP’s Fraud Watch Network Helpline (877-908-3360) is a free support line, not a criminal investigation.

What the research found

  • Pause when someone pretends to be an organization you already know. Impersonation means using a real agency, bank, company, or family name to borrow trust you already have. The FTC’s four-sign guide lists pretending as the first common move, and caller ID can be faked. In 2025 people reported about $3.5 billion lost to imposter scams, the most reported fraud category, with nearly one in three fraud reports in that group. Look up the organization on a number or site you already use, not the one in the message. A real name on the screen is a reason to check, not a reason to pay.
    Sources 2
  • Hang up when the story is a sudden problem or prize. The FTC’s second sign is a problem, prize, virus, family emergency, or overdue account that you did not already know about. Honest groups do not demand an immediate secret payment to “protect” money, claim a lottery win that needs a fee, or fix a computer after a cold call. FBI IC3’s 2025 report urges people to take a beat, resist pressure, and assess the situation before turning over money or personal information. Write down what was claimed and who supposedly called. Then use a contact method you already trust.
    Sources 2
  • Give yourself time instead of acting under pressure. The FTC’s third sign is pressure to act immediately, stay on the line, or keep the story secret. Frank Stajano and Paul Wilson call this a distraction and social-compliance problem: attention is pulled toward urgency and apparent authority so the payment is not examined. Kathy Stokes’s AARP Pause campaign treats a short delay and a conversation with a trusted person as the protective move. Honest businesses give you time to decide. A demand that you must not hang up is itself useful information.
    Sources 3
  • Refuse payment methods that honest groups do not use. The FTC’s fourth sign is being told to pay only by gift card, wire, payment app, or cryptocurrency, or to deposit a check and send money back. Gift cards are for gifts; government agencies and real companies do not collect taxes, bail, or tech-support fees that way. John Breyault’s Fraud.org work and FTC gift-card guidance both treat that payment instruction as the tell. If you already paid, contact the card issuer, bank, or transfer company right away and report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Speed of reporting is about recovery chances, not about blame.
    Sources 3
  • Look up a job offer instead of paying to get hired. Honest employers, including the U.S. government, do not charge you for the job, send a check to deposit and forward, or hire you by generic text to rate products. The FTC’s job-scam article and April 2026 recruiter-text alert both say never pay to get paid. Search the company and the recruiter with the words scam or complaint, and describe the offer to someone you trust. A “cleared” check can still bounce days later, and the bank can then ask you to repay the full amount. Use official listings such as USAJobs.gov for federal roles.
    Sources 2
  • Use a known number to check a family-emergency story. The FTC’s fake-emergency page says not to trust the voice, even when it sounds like a relative, because a short public clip can be cloned. Hang up, call the person on a number you already have, and tell another family member or friend even if the caller demanded secrecy. AARP’s Fraud Watch Network treats talking openly as part of prevention, not as disloyalty. Gift cards and crypto kiosks are not how real bail or hospital intake works. You can care about the person and still verify the story.
    Sources 2

Where experts still disagree

Just talk

  • Judge a contact by the request, not by how smart you feel. A popular line says only greedy or careless people get scammed. AARP’s 2026 survey found that nine in ten U.S. adults agree fraud can happen to anyone, and nearly four in ten said they had already experienced it. Stajano and Wilson’s principles include kindness, need, and social compliance, not a stupidity test. Cross and Whitty’s romance-fraud work shows people can notice something is wrong and still be held by the story. Use the payment demand, secrecy, and channel as the evidence. Shame is a tool the next recovery scammer will try to reuse.
    Sources 3
  • Check the channel you already use, not the display name. Matching caller ID, a boss’s photo, or two similar emails can feel like confirmation. Display names and numbers can be spoofed, and several pages can repeat one underlying message. CISA’s BEC advice is to call a number from a known contact list, not from the urgent email. The Information topic on this site is the place to check a circulating claim; this page is about a fraud contact that wants money or identity. Agreement among copies is a reason to investigate. It is not a completed verification.
    Sources 2
  • Stop a recovery offer that asks you to pay again. After a loss, a caller may pose as a bank, a lawyer, the FTC, or even FBI IC3 and offer to get the money back for a fee. FBI IC3’s July 2026 alert describes scammers impersonating IC3 staff, using AI-generated video of senior officials, and sending people to fake complaint sites. The FTC will never demand money, threaten you, or tell you to transfer funds to protect them. Hang up and use reportfraud.ftc.gov or ic3.gov by typing the address yourself. A second payment is a new crime, not a required step in recovery.
    Sources 2
  • Use a freeze for new credit, and still watch existing accounts. A credit freeze can restrict most new-credit checks; it does not stop someone who already has an account number, a gift-card PIN, or a wire you approved. Eva Velasquez’s Identity Theft Resource Center work and the Learn finance topic separate freezes, fraud alerts, disputes, and IdentityTheft.gov plans. Keep monitoring statements. A freeze is one tool with a specific job, not a complete fraud shield.
    Sources 2

What to try

  • Pause, hang up, and check the story on a contact you already trust. When a message asks for money, a code, or secrecy, stop the conversation. The FTC’s four signs and fake-emergency guidance both treat a short delay as the useful first move: hang up or say you will call back, then use a phone number, email, or workplace channel you already had. Tell one trusted person what was claimed. This everyday sequence adapts official consumer guidance; it is not a tested STUDlearn protocol and it does not guarantee that every contact is harmless or that every real emergency will wait. If someone is in physical danger, call local emergency services first.
    Sources 2
  • Try a known-number callback on one urgent story. Take a recent family, bank, or workplace scare and write the claim in one sentence. Call the person or institution on a number from your contacts or a statement, not from the incoming message. The FTC’s fake-emergency page and CISA’s BEC callback advice are the named sources for this check. Note what matched and what did not. If you cannot reach the real person, call someone else in the family or office before you pay.
    Sources 2
  • Try searching a job offer with the word scam before you pay. Copy the company name, recruiter name, and pay claim into a search with the word scam or complaint. The FTC’s job-scam article recommends that search and a conversation with someone you trust. Do not deposit a check you are told to send onward, and do not pay for equipment, training, or a background check to start. A lack of complaints is not a proof of honesty; a pile of matching complaints is a reason to walk away.
    Sources 2
  • Try a second-channel check on a payment request even if the voice or video looks right. FBI IC3’s 2025 report, for the first time, counted AI-related complaints that used voice clones and believable videos of public figures and loved ones. Perry Carpenter’s May 2026 KnowBe4 interview says not to rely on spotting glitches and to slow down and ask a critical question. End the call, look up the official number or the internal directory, and confirm the payment, vendor change, or gift-card request there. A good-enough fake can last half a minute; the process does not have to. This is 2025–2026 field guidance, not a detector you can run by ear.
    Sources 3

How to keep it

Sayings people repeat

The longer notes

Who this is drawing from

  • Kathy Stokes. AARP Fraud Watch Network senior director of fraud prevention programs. Her public Pause campaign and congressional testimony translate current tactics into a delay-and-talk habit. AARP education is not a personal risk score or a criminal investigation.
    Sources 1
  • Amy Nofziger. AARP senior director of fraud victim support and Certified Fraud Examiner. She oversees the free Fraud Watch Network Helpline. Helpline guidance is support, not legal advice or a promise of recovery.
    Sources 1
  • Doug Shadel. Former AARP Washington state director, fraud investigator, and FINRA Foundation Ketchum Prize recipient. His research with DeLiema profiles investment-fraud targeting. Investigator experience does not make every later tactic identical.
    Sources 1
  • Marti DeLiema. University of Minnesota assistant professor of social work and gerontologist. Her studies separate scam types and test education against structural protections. Findings about groups are not a diagnosis of one household.
    Sources 1
  • David Burnes. University of Toronto professor and Canada Research Chair in older-adult mistreatment prevention. His 2017 review estimated financial-fraud prevalence among older adults with wide study ranges. Elder-mistreatment research is not a claim that only older adults are targeted.
    Sources 1
  • Cassandra Cross. Queensland University of Technology professor of justice and associate dean. Her romance-fraud and BEC work names the crime, the reporting barrier, and the harm of blame. Australian and U.K. cases do not automatically map onto every U.S. payment rail.
    Sources 1
  • Monica Whitty. Monash professor of human factors in cyber security. Her stage model explains how a false relationship is built before the money request. It is fraud psychology, not dating advice.
    Sources 1
  • Mark Button. University of Portsmouth professor of criminology and director of the Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime. His work with Cross treats scams as organized economic crime with victims who need support. Measurement studies are not an individual recovery plan.
    Sources 1
  • Lorrie Cranor. Carnegie Mellon CyLab director and FORE Systems University Professor; former FTC chief technologist. Her phishing-training experiments show that people can learn to inspect messages in tested tasks. Lab improvement is not lifetime immunity.
    Sources 1
  • Perry Carpenter. KnowBe4 chief deception strategist, MSIA, and public educator on deepfakes. His 2026 teaching is to slow down and ask a critical question rather than trust a detector. KnowBe4 is a commercial awareness vendor; its metrics are not independent prevalence data.
    Sources 1
  • Eva Velasquez. Identity Theft Resource Center CEO and former economic-crimes investigator. She supplies stepwise identity-recovery routes after information is misused. Identity-theft recovery is not the same job as stopping an urgent gift-card demand.
    Sources 1
  • Gary Mottola. FINRA Investor Education Foundation research director and social psychologist. His work with DeLiema compares who is contacted and who loses money across scam types. Investor-education research is not a recommendation of a particular product.
    Sources 1
  • Frank Stajano. University of Cambridge professor of security and privacy. With Paul Wilson he extracted seven principles that hustlers exploit, shifting blame off “gullible users.” Principles from documented cons are not a complete map of every 2026 AI script.
    Sources 1
  • Cormac Herley. Microsoft Research scientist whose 2012 paper models why an implausible advance-fee story can still be profitable. It is attacker-economics analysis, not a current census of any country’s crime.
    Sources 1
  • John Breyault. National Consumers League vice president for public policy, telecommunications, and fraud, and Fraud.org director. He translates payment-method tells and reporting gaps for public audiences. Advocacy is not a finding about one bank’s duty in a specific transfer.
    Sources 1

Related

Good to know

Also on this house

STUDmoney. For bills and accounts after a money loss, see STUDmoney. Checking a circulating claim is a STUDlearn Information job. Personal finance is the household-money topic.

All STUDlearn topics →