AI makes scams more convincing: a familiar voice, a flawless email, a famous face. The good news is that the tricks underneath haven’t changed, and a few habits protect you from almost all of them. Free for everyone, no account needed.
The one rule to remember
Almost every scam uses the same pattern. Look for these three:
UrgencySecrecyAn unusual way to pay
If you spot two of the three, stop. Then check through a channel you choose: hang up and call back on a number you already know.
Before you click, pay, or share
Did I expect this message, call, or offer?
Is someone rushing me, or asking me to keep it secret?
Am I being asked to pay by gift card, crypto, or bank transfer?
Is the link or sender exactly right? (Type the address yourself instead.)
Am I being asked for a password or a one-time code? (Never share them.)
Can I check through a number or app I already trust?
Ten common AI scams
Each one: how it works, the red flags, what to do right now, and how to protect yourself ahead of time.
A scammer copies a family member’s voice from a few seconds of video or voicemail, then calls in a panic: an accident, an arrest, a lost phone. The voice sounds right, so your heart answers before your head does.
Red flags
A crisis that needs money right now
“Don’t tell Mum and Dad”, or any request for secrecy
Payment by bank transfer, gift cards, or crypto
A new number, or a reason they can’t talk for long
What to do right now
Hang up, and call them back on the number you already have. Ask for your family safe word. A real emergency can wait two minutes.
Protect yourself ahead of time
Agree a family safe word in person (never in a message), and tell everyone: a panicky call for money means hang up and call back.
A realistic video shows a famous person or a news presenter praising an investment platform. The video is a deepfake, and the platform shows “profits” that you can never withdraw.
Red flags
A famous face promising easy or guaranteed returns
Pressure to invest before a deadline
An ad or a message, not the person’s own verified channels
Small first “profits”, then fees to withdraw
What to do right now
Don’t click or pay. Look for the claim on the person’s official website or accounts, and search the platform’s name with “scam”.
Protect yourself ahead of time
Treat any investment ad with a famous face as fake until proven otherwise. Real investments don’t promise guaranteed returns.
Sites and groups sell an “AI trading bot” that supposedly makes money while you sleep. The dashboard shows gains, but they are just numbers on a page, and the money is gone once you deposit.
Red flags
Guaranteed or unusually high returns
“Our AI can’t lose”
Screenshots of profits instead of proof
Deposits in crypto only, and trouble withdrawing
What to do right now
Stop depositing. Try to withdraw a small amount; if you’re asked to pay a “release fee”, it’s a scam. Keep the records.
Protect yourself ahead of time
Remember: nobody sells a machine that prints money. If it worked, they wouldn’t need your deposit.
AI lets scammers write fluent, personal messages with no spelling mistakes, in any language. They pretend to be your bank, a delivery company, or a service you use, and link to a fake sign-in page.
Red flags
“Verify your account” or “your parcel is on hold”
A link to sign in, or to pay a small fee
A sender address or link that’s slightly off
Urgency: “within 24 hours”
What to do right now
Don’t click the link. Open the app or type the website address yourself, and check there. If you already entered a password, change it now.
Protect yourself ahead of time
Turn on two-step verification for email and banking. Good spelling no longer proves a message is real.
You search for a company’s help line, and a look-alike site or social account opens a friendly “support” chat. It’s helpful, patient, and asks for your card details or a one-time code to “fix” the problem.
Red flags
A support page you reached from an ad or a search result, not the company’s own site
Asking for a one-time code, password, or full card number
Asking you to install a remote-access app
Moving the chat to a messaging app
What to do right now
Close the chat. Never share a one-time code: no real support agent needs it. Contact the company through its own app or the number on your card.
Protect yourself ahead of time
Save the real support links for your bank and main services, and use those.
A charming match with perfect photos (made or altered by AI) builds trust over weeks. Then comes a crisis, a trip, or an “investment opportunity” that needs money.
Red flags
They can never video call, or the video looks odd
Photos that look too perfect, or appear nowhere else
Talk of money, crypto, or investing, early or suddenly
Moving you off the dating app quickly
What to do right now
Don’t send money or gift cards. Talk to someone you trust. A reverse image search of their photos can reveal a fake.
Protect yourself ahead of time
Keep conversations on the platform until you’ve met, and treat any request for money as the end of the story.
A recruiter offers a great remote job, sometimes after a chat or AI-run “interview”. Then you’re asked to pay for training or equipment, or to share your bank details and ID “for payroll”.
Red flags
A job you never applied for, with high pay for easy work
An interview only by text or chat
Paying for anything to start
Your ID and bank details before any contract
What to do right now
Stop and check the company yourself: its own website, its real careers page, a phone number you found. Don’t send ID or money.
Protect yourself ahead of time
Real employers pay you, not the other way round. Share ID and bank details only after a signed contract.
Look-alike apps and extensions use the name of a popular AI tool. Once installed, they read your browsing, steal your logins, or charge a subscription for something free.
Red flags
An app or extension from an unknown developer with a famous name
Permissions to “read and change all your data on all websites”
Few, recent, or oddly similar reviews
A download link from an ad, not the official site
What to do right now
Uninstall it, then change the passwords you used while it was installed, starting with email.
Protect yourself ahead of time
Install AI tools only from the maker’s own website or official app store page, and check the permissions before you accept.
AI makes it cheap to build a convincing shop with product photos and hundreds of glowing reviews. The deals are real-looking; the goods never arrive, or they’re something else.
Red flags
Prices far below everywhere else
Reviews that all sound alike, or all posted recently
Payment by bank transfer only
No real address, or a very new website
What to do right now
Don’t pay by bank transfer. If you already paid by card, call your bank to dispute it.
Protect yourself ahead of time
Pay by card or a payment service with buyer protection, and look the shop up elsewhere before buying.
A chat message or email that looks like your manager or your bank asks for something urgent: a payment, gift cards for a client, a change of bank details, or a code. At work, it might even be a deepfake video call.
Red flags
An unusual request, marked urgent and confidential
A new number or account for the same person
Asking you to skip the usual checks
Gift cards, or new bank details for a supplier
What to do right now
Pause, and check through a channel you choose: call your boss or the bank on a number you already know.
Protect yourself ahead of time
At work, agree that payments and bank-detail changes always need a second person to approve them, whoever asks.
Last reviewed 2026-09-26
If you’ve been scammed
It happens to careful, clever people every day; these scams are designed by professionals. Acting quickly matters more than feeling embarrassed.
Stop. Don’t send more money, don’t reply, and don’t pay anyone who offers to “recover” it: that’s often a second scam.
Secure your accounts. Change the passwords you shared or typed, starting with email, and turn on two-step verification.
Call your bank or card provider on the number on your card. They may be able to stop or reverse a payment if you’re quick.
Report it to your national fraud reporting service, or to the police. In the US, that’s reportfraud.ftc.gov; in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, Report Fraud at reportfraud.police.uk (as of September 2026). Reporting helps stop the next one, too.
Learn it properly
Lesson 11, Scam & Fraud Awareness, practises all of this: spotting the pattern, agreeing a family safe word, turning on two-step verification, and handling instructions hidden in things you paste into AI. It’s free with an account. The words used here are explained in the glossary.
Last reviewed 2026-09-26. Scams change, so we review this page regularly.
