One verdict on the link, message, seller or payment in front of you — and the next move. One verdict — scam, risky, not enough to judge, or no signs — the reasons, and the exact protections for that situation. Nobody real is ever paid in gift cards, crypto or a cash agent. Nobody real ever asks for the code that was just texted to you. Urgency is the weapon. A real deadline survives you sleeping on it. Pay in a way you can reverse — card, or the platform's own checkout. Type the address yourself. Never the one in the message. Off the platform means off its protection. Stay where you met.

The world's problems: I have a problem

Is this a scam?

One verdict on the link, message, seller or payment in front of you — and the next move.

Rules that catch almost every scam

Nobody real is ever paid in gift cards, crypto or a cash agent.
Nobody real ever asks for the code that was just texted to you.
Urgency is the weapon. A real deadline survives you sleeping on it.
Pay in a way you can reverse — card, or the platform's own checkout.
Type the address yourself. Never the one in the message.
Off the platform means off its protection. Stay where you met.

Scam: This carries the marks of a scam. Do not pay, do not reply, do not click.

Send nothing. If money has not left, you have lost nothing yet.
Do not reply, do not click, do not open the attachment.
If you already paid by card, call your bank now and say the word fraud — card payments can sometimes be pulled back within hours.
If you gave a password, change it on the real site you typed yourself, and turn on two-step login.
Block and report the sender inside the app you received it in.

Risky: Enough is wrong here to stop. Treat it as a scam until you have proof otherwise.

Stop where you are and pay nothing yet.
Leave the message. Find the company yourself and contact them through the number on their own site.
If it is a seller, pay only through the platform's own checkout, by card, never direct.
Ask for something a scammer cannot fake: a live video call, an address you can verify, a company number you can look up.
If any answer is refused or rushed, treat it as settled and walk away.

Not enough to judge: Nothing here matches a known scam or trap yet. Add who it was, what they asked for, how much, and how you met — or paste their message or link.

Add the details: who it was, what they asked for, how much, and how you met them.
If they sent something, paste the whole message or the link as well.
Do not pay or share anything while it is unclear.

No scam signs: Nothing here matches the known patterns. That is not a guarantee — the rules below still apply.

Still pay by card or the platform's own checkout, so the payment can be reversed.
Type the website address yourself rather than following the link.
If money or a code is ever requested later, check it again here.

Asked for more than locals pay

Agree the price before you get in or before anything is served — say the number back to them.
Pay what locals pay, in exact change, and walk away calmly. Most drivers and sellers let it go.
Ask a local, a shopkeeper or the terminal dispatcher for the usual fare — many towns post a fare list.
Already paid? Note the plate or body number, the time and the place, and report it to the city's transport or tourism office.

Buying or selling with a stranger

Selling: cash in your hand in person, or the platform's own checkout with the money already cleared. Nothing leaves your hands before that.
Buying: pay on delivery after you have held the item — or through the platform, by card. Never a deposit to a stranger.
Never scan a QR code to receive money, never pay a courier fee to release a sale, and never let their courier collect.

An investment or trading platform

Stop putting money in now. The withdrawal fee is not the way back — it is the next loss.
There is no fee, tax or unlock to take out your own money. Anyone asking for one is the scam confirming itself.
Report the platform to your bank and the police, and keep every message.

A loan that needs a fee first

Pay nothing. A real lender takes its costs from the loan itself.
Look the lender up in your country's official register of licensed lenders, and call the number listed there.

A threat to share images

Do not pay. Paying proves you will, and the demands continue.
Do not reply or negotiate: screenshot everything, then block.
Report it to the platform and the police — this is a crime with a name, and they very rarely send anything.

A driver or guide abroad

The hotel is open. Insist on your address; if the driver refuses, get out and take the next one.
Agree the fare or the meter before the door closes, and photograph the plate.

Someone you met online wants to meet

Do not travel to them. Anyone real can meet you in the city you are already in — that single rule ends almost every version of this.
Video call first, live, and ask them to say your name. A profile that will not turn on a camera is not a person.
First meeting in a busy public place, in daylight, chosen by you and named by you.
Tell one person where you are going and when you will be back, and leave your live location on.
Carry a taxi fare and nothing else. No passport, no cards you cannot cancel, no cash you cannot lose.
If the place changes at the last minute, or anyone else joins, leave immediately. That change is the setup.

A place you have not stood inside

Pay nothing until you have stood inside, with the keys in your hand, and the person who let you in matched the name on the contract.
A landlord who cannot meet you does not exist. Walk away from the listing, not just the message.
Book only through the platform's own checkout. A discount for paying outside it is the price of losing everything.

A job that came to you

A real job never costs you money. Not for training, equipment, a check, a visa or a deposit. Any fee ends the conversation.
Insist on a video interview with a person whose email ends in the company's own domain.
Look the company up in the official business register yourself, and call the number listed there — not the one in the message.

A call or message from your bank

Hang up. Call your bank yourself, on the number printed on your card, and ask if they contacted you.
No bank ever moves your money to a safe account, asks for the code sent to your phone, or sends a link to verify you.
If you already gave a code or password, call the bank now and say the word fraud.

Technical support you did not ask for

Close the window or hang up. No company can see a virus on your computer, and none calls you about one.
Never install remote-access software or share your screen with someone who contacted you.
If they already had access: disconnect from the internet, change your bank password from another device, and call your bank.

A relative in sudden trouble

Hang up and call the person on the number you have always used. Not the new one.
Agree a family password today — one word only the family knows — and ask for it before any money ever moves.
Real emergencies are handled by hospitals, police and lawyers with names, addresses and paperwork. None of them takes gift cards or a transfer to a stranger.

A parcel held for a fee

Do not open the link. Go to the courier's own website, type it yourself, and enter your tracking number there.
Couriers never collect fees by text link. A real customs charge comes on paper, with the parcel, from a courier you can call.

Why

They want a cryptocurrency payment. Crypto cannot be reversed or traced back to you — it is the scammer's favourite for exactly that reason.
They want gift cards or prepaid codes. No real company, tax office, police force or employer is ever paid in gift cards.
They want a bank wire or an instant transfer. Once it lands it is gone; a card payment could have been reversed.
They want Western Union, MoneyGram or a cash agent. That is a cash handover with a receipt, not a protected payment.
They want a prepaid or reloadable card code. That is untraceable cash.
They gave a personal bank account for what is presented as a company payment.
They asked for the code that was just texted to you. That code is the lock on your account. Real staff never ask for it.
They want to install remote-access software or see your screen. That hands them your bank session.
You are asked to pay before you receive anything — a fee, a deposit, a release charge, customs.
A job or opportunity that charges you money. Work pays you; it does not bill you.
Guaranteed or fixed returns are promised. Guaranteed returns do not exist; the promise itself is the fraud.
An inheritance, prize, compensation or unclaimed fund you never entered. There is none.
They paid too much and want part of it back. The original payment reverses later and you lose both.
A refund, rebate or tax repayment you never asked for, arriving out of nowhere.
It threatens arrest, deportation, a fine, a cut-off or a court case unless you act now. Real authorities write, and give you weeks.
It asks you to verify, confirm or reactivate an account through their link. That link is the trap.
Hard urgency — hours, today, immediately, final notice. Urgency exists to stop you checking.
You are told to keep it quiet, or not to tell the bank or your family. That instruction only ever protects the scammer.
They want to move off the site where you met — to WhatsApp, Telegram, email or a direct chat. Off the platform means off its protection.
They pushed you to another app straight away.
Affection or a relationship arriving alongside a money request, from someone you have not met in person.
The price is far below what the thing actually costs. Nobody sells at a deep loss to a stranger.
The whole message exists to make you click one link.
This is someone you know from a profile, not from life. A profile costs nothing to make and nothing to abandon — the person behind it may be anyone, anywhere.
You are the one being asked to travel. That is the whole move: on their ground, among their people, with no way home, you are the only one who can lose.
The meeting place is theirs to choose — their home, their pier, somewhere quiet. Every setup like this works only because the place was not yours.
A friendly stranger who texted the wrong number and stayed to chat. Nobody does that. It is the opening line of the slowest, most expensive scam there is.
A landlord who cannot show the place, is abroad, or wants a deposit to hold it before you have stood inside. The flat exists; it belongs to someone else.
An interview by chat, a job without one, or a recruiter who found your CV and pays too well. Real hiring is slow, on video, from a company address.
A parcel held for a small fee. Couriers never collect fees by text link; the fee is tiny so you will not think, and the card page is the harvest.
A virus, an expired licence, a refund — from a company that has no way of knowing what is on your computer. The number to call is theirs.
Your bank wants to move your money to a safe account, or its fraud team is calling to confirm a transaction. No bank does either. Hang up and call the number on your card.
A relative writing from a new number. The real person is still reachable on the old one — do that first, before anything else is said or sent.
A relative in trouble, a new number, money needed now. The voice and the story can both be faked; the urgency is there to stop you calling the person you know.
You were asked for well above what locals pay. That is overcharging — the price for strangers. Not always a planned scam, but you never have to pay it.
Things on the bill you never ordered, or a total that does not add up. Check every line before you pay, and have them taken off.
Change counted short, or a note swapped while you looked away. Count it in front of them, note by note.
A bracelet, a flower or a photo, then a demand for money. It was never a gift — hand it back and walk on.
A buyer whose courier, driver or relative will collect. They want the item to leave your hands before any money is real.
A QR code to receive money. Scanning a code never receives anything — it only ever authorises a payment out.
A platform, a group, a withdrawal fee. The small profit shown first was the bait; the fee to take your money out is the hook, and there is always another.
A threat to share a recording unless you pay. Paying does not end it — it proves you will pay.
A loan approved before you asked. A real lender takes its fee from the loan; one that needs a fee first is never going to lend.
A guaranteed visa, or a job abroad with the visa included, for a fee first. No agent can guarantee a visa; the fee is the product.
A pet to reserve, then a crate, a vaccine, an insurance fee. The animal is a stock photo and the fees never end.
An urgent appeal paid in crypto, gift cards or wire. Real charities take cards, on their own site, with a receipt.
The hotel is closed, the site is shut today, the meter is broken, they know a better place. That is a commission talking.
Friends-and-family payment, or tickets sent after you pay. That payment has no protection, and a screenshot is not a ticket.
An order you never placed, and a number to call if it was not you. The number is theirs; the call is where the money goes.
The link is not encrypted (http, not https). Anything typed there travels in the open.
The link points at a bare IP address instead of a name. Real businesses have names.
The address uses look-alike foreign characters to imitate a real name.
The address imitates a well-known brand with a changed or added word.
The address is stacked with prefixes so the real domain is pushed out of sight on a phone.
The address sits on an ending handed out free or near-free, which is where throwaway scam sites live.
The link is shortened, so you cannot see where it actually goes.
The link hides its real destination behind an @ — everything before it is decoration.
The link uses an unusual port, which normal business sites do not.
The address is a long string of hyphenated keywords, the classic throwaway-domain shape.
The address is a long random string, generated in bulk.
The address stuffs in words like secure, verify, login, wallet, refund or support to look official.
A company matter written from a free personal mailbox.
The email address is a throwaway that expires.

2Is this a scam?

Is this a scam?