Is This a Scam? Check the Red Flags

The red flags this checker looks for

Most scams follow the same pattern. The FTC lists four signs: scammers pretend to be from an organization you know, say there is a problem or a prize, pressure you to act immediately, and tell you to pay in a specific way. These are the specific red flags the checker matches, each with the guide that covers it.

• Paying with gift cards. The FTC says only scammers tell you to buy a gift card and give them the numbers off the back. No real business or government agency will ever tell you to pay with one. Guide
• Paying with cryptocurrency or a crypto ATM. Crypto transfers are very hard to reverse. No government agency, legitimate financial institution or reputable company will tell you to move money through a crypto ATM. Guide
• Paying by wire transfer. Wiring money is one of the specific ways scammers insist you pay. The FTC warns that a wire is like sending cash: once it is gone, you probably cannot get it back. Guide
• Cash picked up by a courier or sent by mail. Sending someone to your door to pick up cash is a known scam pattern, and agencies warn about scammers who meet people in person to collect cash or gold. Once you hand it over, your money is gone. Guide
• Moving money to "protect" it. The FTC says anyone who tells you that you have to move your money to protect it is a scammer. In the pattern the FBI calls the Phantom Hacker scam, fake tech support leads to a fake bank and then a fake government agent who tells you to move savings to a "safe" account. Guide
• Being told to keep it secret. Being told to keep it secret, or not to tell the bank the real reason you are moving money, is a warning sign in itself. Talking to a friend, family member or neighbor could help you realize it is a scam. Guide
• A "government agency" asking for money or information. The FTC says government agencies will never call, email, text or message you on social media to ask for money or personal information. Guide
• Your "bank" asking you to move money or share codes. According to the FTC, your bank will never contact you to tell you to transfer money or to ask for personal information or passcodes. Guide
• Deposit a check and send money back. Never deposit a check and send money back to someone. Seeing the money in your account does not mean the check is good, and if it turns out to be fake, the FTC warns you are stuck paying the money back to the bank. Guide
• Paying up front to get a prize, a job or your own money. The FTC says that if you have to pay to get your prize, it is a scam, because real prizes are free, and that honest employers never ask you to pay to get a job. A fee or tax demanded before you can withdraw money is part of the scam too. Guide
• Receiving money and passing it on. Accepting money into your account and forwarding it for someone is what a money mule does. The FBI warns that acting as a money mule is illegal and punishable, even if you are not aware you are committing a crime. Guide
• A threat to share intimate images. Threatening to share intimate photos unless you pay or send more is sextortion. Stop responding and do not pay: paying rarely stops the blackmail. The blackmailer is to blame, not you. Guide
• Codes, passwords, account numbers or your Social Security number. The FTC says anyone who asks for your account verification code is a scammer, and legitimate companies will not ask for information about your account by text. Guide
• You shared personal information. Sharing personal information with someone you could not verify is a warning sign to act on now. What a scammer can do depends on what they got, and our guide explains what to secure first. Guide
• A request for remote access to your device. A request for remote access to your computer or phone is a warning sign of a tech support scam. Legitimate tech companies will not contact you to say there is a problem with your computer. Guide
• Paying through a payment app. Being told to pay a specific way, including with a payment app, is one of the FTC's four signs of a scam. A payment you send yourself is harder to get back than one a scammer took from your account. Guide
• Pressure to act right now. Pressure to act immediately, or a threat of arrest, a lawsuit or a cut-off service, is one of the FTC's four signs of a scam. Guide
• A pop-up warning on your computer. The FTC says real security pop-up warnings and messages will never ask you to call a phone number. Guide
• A tech company contacting you out of the blue. The FTC says legitimate tech companies will not contact you by phone, email or text to tell you there is a problem with your computer. Guide
• An online love interest asking for money. The FBI says never send money to anyone you have only communicated with online or by phone, and the FTC says never send money or gifts to a sweetheart you have not met in person. Guide
• Investment advice from someone who contacted you. Regulators say not to make investment decisions based on the advice of anyone who contacts you out of the blue online, through an app or by text. The FTC also says never to mix online dating and investment advice. Guide
• A relative in trouble who needs money now. Some scammers use AI to clone a loved one's voice. The FTC says to hang up and call your family member yourself on a number you know is right, even if the caller says to keep it a secret. Guide
• A job or prize you never applied for. The FTC says real employers will never contact you with a generic, unexpected text or WhatsApp message about a job. Messages about a prize you never entered work the same way: the prize does not exist. Guide
• An official-looking caller ID or email. Scammers can change the number that shows on your caller ID, so the name and number you see might not be real. Names, badges and official-looking documents prove nothing either. Guide
• They contacted you first. Scammers pretend to be from an organization you know. When someone reaches out first, contact the company or agency your own way, through a number or website you find yourself. Guide

More scam guides: How to tell if something is a scam · Mail theft and check washing · Elder fraud · Where to report a scam

If you already paid

Call the fraud line of the company you paid through (your card issuer, bank, payment app, wire company, gift card issuer or crypto exchange) using a number you look up yourself, and ask it to stop or reverse the payment. That company is usually the one that can stop or reverse a payment; a report to a government agency does not reverse it by itself.

Whether you can get the money back depends mostly on how you paid, and on whether the scammer moved the money or you sent it yourself after being tricked. Our guide walks through each payment method. How to get money back after a scam.

Then report it, and watch for a second scam: the FTC says anyone who contacts you and asks for an upfront fee to recover lost money is a scammer. Where to report a scam.

What this checker can and cannot tell you

• It is a checklist built from the warning signs federal agencies describe. A result with no strong pattern does not mean something is safe, and it cannot confirm who you are dealing with.
• Your answers stay in your browser: nothing you choose is sent to us, saved or attached to any analytics event.

Disclaimer: General information, not legal advice. This checker cannot confirm that anything is safe. Always verify by contacting the company or agency yourself, using a number or website you look up, not one they gave you.