Spot the scam before it gets you.
Text messages can be faked. Voices can be copied with modern AI tools.
A code word gives someone in your family one question to ask when a message sounds like you but does not feel like you.
“Create a secret word or phrase with your family to verify their identity.”
ScamReflex walks you through choosing one together and practicing it.
A code word stops family imposter scams. There are dozens of other types.
They arrive by text, by email and by phone, in dozens of shapes.
Impostor scams were the most reported fraud for the ninth year running: more than 1 million reports last year, and $3.5 billion reported lost.
Almost every one of them does the same four things.
PRETEND
Someone claims to be a company, an agency, or a person you know.
PROBLEM OR PRIZE
Something is wrong with your account, or you have won something.
PRESSURE
You are told to act right now, and often to keep it quiet.
PAY
You are told to pay one specific way: gift card, wire, crypto, payment application.
The four signs of a scam, Federal Trade Commission
The story changes every time. These four signs do not. Practice is how you learn to see them before you act.
Three simple habits, learned by doing.
Read the message, follow the link, and explore a safe copy of a real scam.
See what made it tricky and what to watch for.
Each one you practice makes the real scam easier to catch.
People who practiced with repeated simulated phishing emails were far less likely to click the next one. After ten or more rounds of practice, the odds of clicking dropped by roughly two-thirds.
A Host brings people into ScamReflex and follows how their practice is going.
You get your own place to work from, with three sections.
See who needs a nudge, when and on what.
Invite people by email, and follow who has joined and who is still pending.
See the practice scams a program sends, and what each one teaches.