The caller who needs you to act right now
Phone scammers borrow the voice of a bank, a courier, a government office or a relative. The script changes; the pressure does not.
What these calls have in common
The caller says there is a problem or a prize: a blocked card, an unpaid fine, a parcel held at customs, a relative in trouble. You are told to act now and to keep it to yourself. Then comes the request: read out a code, install an app, or move money “to a safe account”.
A real bank does not ask you to move money in order to protect it, and no legitimate organisation needs the code that was just sent to your phone.
Caller ID and familiar voices prove nothing
The number on your screen can be faked, so a call that appears to come from your bank may not. Voices can be imitated too: a short recording from social media is enough for software to produce a convincing copy of someone you know.
Agree on a family code word, or ask a question only the real person could answer.
Hang up and call back
You do not owe a caller politeness. Hang up, find the number yourself on your card, a bill or the official website, and call that. If the problem was real, it will still be there.
Scammers ask for payment by gift card, cryptocurrency, wire transfer or a payment app because that money is hard to get back. A request to pay that way is itself the warning.
This note is our own plain-language summary. For the full guidance, read the original: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/phone-scams
Next noteThe warning that fills your screen is not from your computer
If the problem is real, it will still be there after you call back.