Is This a Scam?

60 practice exercises. Judge each message before you find out.

Most books about scams tell you what to watch for. This one lets you practice. Every exercise gives you a text, an email, a letter, a phone call or a conversation that could really reach you, and asks you to decide.

Each page carries a card with your own accounts: your bank, your delivery company, your phone company and a family member, with the exact website and number each one really uses. A message only comes from them if the sender matches. Beside it are the same 14 warning signs every time, so the answer is never a hunch. Some messages in this book are genuine, because most real messages are.

• Scam or Safe?: one message, and a verdict. Some of them are real.
• Find the Signs: a scam, and how many warning signs it hides.
• Which One Is Real?: three messages about the same thing, and one you can trust.
• Who Sent It?: four ordinary messages, and only the sender gives the fakes away.
• The Phone Call: a helpful call, line by line, and the line where it turns.
• The Conversation: a friendly chat over several days, and when to stop replying.
• The Inbox: a week of messages across two pages to sort and count.

• 60 exercises in three parts, from obvious fakes to messages that sound exactly like your bank, then 8 two-page Inbox exercises


• The 14 warning signs on one page at the front, and on every exercise


• One message worked through step by step before you start


• Full answers that point to the exact sign and the exact words


• A page on what to do if you think a message is a scam


• Every name, website and phone number is invented

Anyone who has wondered whether a text from the bank was really from the bank, and a thoughtful gift for a parent or grandparent. This book is practice at spotting warning signs; it is not legal or financial advice.