Verify first.

Check it another way before any money moves.

Where are you right now?

It's happening nowSomeone is on the phone, a popup won't close, or there's a knock at the door. Start here. I already sent moneyIt has happened. The first hour matters more than anything else, and nobody here will blame you. I want to understand thisNothing is happening. You want to know what to watch for, or to help somebody who might be a target. Set it up before it happensA code word and two agreements, at a kitchen table. They still work when the voice on the phone sounds exactly right.

A woman holding a cup of coffee while sitting by a window — Photo: Shixart1985 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Listen to this page This recording is of an earlier version of this page.

You can stay trusting. Just put the checking in front of it.

Scammers aren't beating people because people are foolish. They're beating people because they're good at their jobs. They arrive when you're tired, or busy, or worried about someone you love.

So we won't ask you to be smarter than a professional. We'll ask you to be slower than one.

The three steps

That pause is three quick checks. Before you send money, log into a site, install anything, read a code out loud, or let anyone onto your computer:

1
Break the contact.
Hang up. Close the message. Nobody real tells you to stay on the line and tell no one.
2
Use a path they did not choose.
The number on your card, your statement, your bill. The person's own number, the one you have always used.
3
Take all the time you can get.
A day, if you can. Ten minutes and one other person, if you cannot. Either way, money does not move today.

That's the whole method, and it works at both speeds. The scam that unfolds over months. And the call built to take your thinking away in ten seconds. The three steps, in full.

Questions people actually ask

Short answers to the things people search for with the phone still in their hand: whether caller ID can be faked, whether money can come back, whether it's too late to report something from months ago. Read the questions

What kind of call did you get?

Pick the one closest to what's happening. Each page tells you exactly what to do next.

A grandchild in troubleThe bail money call Someone says they've kidnapped my familyScreaming on the phone, a twenty-minute clock Someone I met onlineAsking for money, never met in person A scary popup on my screenFake virus warning, a number to call "Microsoft" or my bank called meUnsolicited tech support or bank calls Someone from the governmentIRS, Social Security, police impersonators A text about a package or tollDelivery, toll, or recall texts A suspicious email or textPhishing, links, "verify your account" A job wants me to pay firstFake recruiters, work-from-home offers An investment that sounds too goodCrypto and investment schemes It sounded exactly like themAI-cloned voices Someone at my door about repairsHome repair and contractor scams Someone offering to get my money backRecovery scams, for people already scammed once Someone's collecting for a disasterFake charities after a hurricane, fire, or flood Someone's calling about my MedicareMedicare card and open-enrollment scams My phone suddenly has no signalSIM swap, your number moved to their phone "You've won" a prize I never enteredLottery, sweepstakes, and inheritance scams

I already sent money. What do I do? It is still here at the bottom too, because somebody who scrolled the whole list looking for their situation may only realise partway down that it has already happened.

Nothing is happening. I want to be ready

Someone I love is being targeted

Why "trust but verify"

It's an old translation of a Russian proverb, doveryai, no proveryai. It was said so often in the 1980s that most Americans over sixty can finish the phrase without being prompted.

We chose it for what it does not say. It doesn't say trust nobody. It doesn't say the world is full of liars and you're a fool for not seeing it. It says: go ahead and trust. Then check. The two were never in conflict.

What this is

A volunteer project. Free, and staying free. No products, no sponsors, no advertising, no mailing list, no donation button. No cookies, no accounts, nothing sold or shared.

We keep one anonymous number: how often each page was read. There's no way to trace it back to you. A site about not getting your information taken should say plainly what little it keeps.

Everything here can be printed, copied, translated, read aloud, or handed to a neighbor without asking us. That's the point.

Available in 45 languages: use the language switcher at the top of this page. Calling a hotline instead? See which ones offer an interpreter, and the exact words to ask for one.

All of these are AI translations and no native speaker has checked them yet. Each one says so at the top, in its own language, and none of them should be printed until someone has. If you speak one of them, an hour of your time would fix that.