A free two-minute check
Scam, real, or alarm bells?
Eight short cases — texts, a phone call, a knock at the door, a sales letter — like the ones people meet every day. For each one, choose Scam, Real, or Alarm bells.
A useful first thought: if someone asks for money or personal details, or uses urgency, a title or official-sounding name, a crowd, a bargain that seems too good, or fear — start with Alarm bells. The clues then help you decide whether it looks like a scam, or genuine.
After you answer, you will see clues, cautious questions and next steps, and whether the case is a real-life case or is based on real-life cases. Choosing Alarm bells when money, data or pressure is involved is a good first instinct, and it counts. Caution is not marked wrong. This is only practice, and it cannot prevent fraud.
If a figure is useful: in 2025, authorised push payment scams in the UK — where someone is talked into sending the money — came to £576.4 million. Source: UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report 2026. Advice in the explanations follows Take Five and Report Fraud.
Scam, real, or alarm bells?
Read what is in front of you, then choose. If someone asks for money or data, or uses pressure, Alarm bells is a good first thought. There is no timer.
Your result
I scored 0/8
The takeaway
Start with Alarm bells whenever someone asks for money or personal details, or uses a trick such as urgency, fake authority, social proof, a bargain that seems too good, or fear. Then use the clues to decide Scam or Real. Choosing Alarm bells in those cases is a good first instinct, and it counts.
Habits worth keeping
These are habits of checking, not a promise that a message or visit is safe.
Try today’s Trickle
A short daily case for practising the same kind of thinking — spotting a jump, an assumption, or a trick in ordinary language.
Open today’s TrickleYour eight cases
If you are unsure about a real message, pause and check through a channel you already trust — an app you already use, or a phone number you already have, such as the one on the back of your card, or 159 to reach your bank in the UK. Suspicious texts can be forwarded to 7726. Concerns can be reported at reportfraud.police.uk, or by calling 0300 123 2040. Sources: Take Five to Stop Fraud; Report Fraud. This practice check cannot prevent fraud.