Scam categories

SMS & text message scams

Text-message scams (smishing) use short, urgent messages with a link or number to push you into paying a small fee, sharing a code, or entering login details. Common themes include fake parcel delivery, unpaid tolls, bank alerts, and one-time codes.

WhatsApp scams

WhatsApp scams often start with a friendly or unsolicited message - a wrong number, a job offer, or an investment tip - and move toward payments, deposits, or account takeover. Because chats feel personal, people lower their guard.

Email scams

Email scams range from phishing for logins to fake invoices, account-suspension alerts, and sextortion threats. Many push you to click a link, call a number, or pay quickly before you can verify.

Social media scams

Social media scams impersonate platform support or use hacked friends to send phishing links, fake 'violation' warnings, and giveaways. The goal is usually your login and two-step codes.

Job & income scams

Job and income scams lure people with easy, high-paying remote work, then extract money through upfront fees, equipment costs, or task-scam 'top-ups'. Recruiters often operate only through chat apps.

Crypto & investment scams

Crypto and investment scams promise high or guaranteed returns through VIP groups, mentor 'professors', or fake trading platforms. Early gains and small withdrawals build trust before deposits are trapped behind fake fees.

Banking & payment scams

Banking and payment scams impersonate your bank's fraud team via text or call, push you to 'verify' through a link, share a one-time code, or move money to a 'safe account'. Speed and authority are the main tools.

Delivery & travel scams

Delivery and travel scams claim a parcel is held pending a delivery, customs, or redelivery fee, or impersonate couriers and toll/airline operators. The 'fee' captures your card details.

AI & deepfake scams

AI and deepfake scams use cloned voices and faces to impersonate relatives in 'emergencies', executives authorising payments, or officials. As AI removes old tells like poor grammar, independent verification matters more than ever.

Government impersonation scams

Government-impersonation scams pose as police, tax, customs, or immigration officials, using threats of arrest or penalties to force payment or secrecy. 'Digital arrest' scams keep victims on long video calls to isolate them.

Marketplace scams

Marketplace scams target buyers and sellers with fake payment screenshots, overpayment 'refund' requests, fake courier pickups, and rushed shipping. A screenshot is never proof of payment.

Recovery scams

Recovery scams target people who were already scammed, offering to trace and recover lost funds for an upfront fee. Genuine recovery is handled by banks, authorities, or courts - never by cold outreach demanding payment.