Decide, by one sign, whether a message is a scam or real, and put that sign into words.
Three questions for any incoming message
Three questions for any incoming message
Lots of messages come in, and there's no time to check each one against a list of signs. Look at three things in order, and stop as soon as one of them gives you the answer.
Who the sender is. Not the display name, but the email address or number: any name can be put there.
What they ask you to do. A real notification informs you: charged, delivered, paid. A fake one demands action from you — click, confirm, share, send — and usually right now.
Where the action leads. Inside your app or online account — or out: through a link, a number in the message itself, a transfer to a stranger. Out is what matters most.
And what the course doesn't want from you. Some incoming messages are real: a tax bill, a delivery, a sign-in you started yourself. Answering “it's a scam” to a real message is as much a mistake as trusting a fake one. Someone who stopped paying taxes and picking up orders has lost out too.
Next you'll sort messages one at a time. For each, name one sign — the one that settled it. Not a list of five.
Lesson notes
Three questions for any incoming message
Lots of messages come in, and there's no time to check each one against a list of signs. Look at three things in order, and stop as soon as one of them gives you the answer.
Who the sender is. Not the display name, but the email address or number: any name can be put there.
What they ask you to do. A real notification informs you: charged, delivered, paid. A fake one demands action from you — click, confirm, share, send — and usually right now.
Where the action leads. Inside your app or online account — or out: through a link, a number in the message itself, a transfer to a stranger. Out is what matters most.
And what the course doesn't want from you. Some incoming messages are real: a tax bill, a delivery, a sign-in you started yourself. Answering “it's a scam” to a real message is as much a mistake as trusting a fake one. Someone who stopped paying taxes and picking up orders has lost out too.
Next you'll sort messages one at a time. For each, name one sign — the one that settled it. Not a list of five.