How To Avoid Scams: A Detailed Breakdown

Key Takeaways:

• Staying alert to scams is crucial. Scammers use increasingly sophisticated methods across texts, emails, and calls, so keeping up with the latest scam trends helps you recognize suspicious messages more quickly and avoid falling victim.
  
• Red flags are your first line of defense. Common signs like grammar errors, sketchy URLs, and messages that create false urgency are all tactics meant to trigger a reaction.
  
• Verify and shield your info proactively. Always confirm suspicious communications through official sources, and protect your accounts with strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and tools like Burner numbers to keep your personal details out of reach.
  

Scammers use multiple channels, such as text, email, and phone calls. And some of these scams are seriously sophisticated, meaning they’re even more dangerous. Once a scammer has access to your accounts, it’s difficult to ensure your safety going forward, not to mention super stressful.

So, how do you protect yourself online and avoid scams? You follow these steps. 

1. Be Aware of Common Scams

Unfortunately, scammers are nothing if not resourceful. They change and adapt as their successful scams become common knowledge and people stop falling for them. Stay up to date on recent trends in online scams. The more aware you are, the faster you’ll recognize that texts about unpaid tolls and similar messages are almost always fake.

While this is an important precaution to take if you want to avoid scams, it’s impossible to know every playbook. So if you receive a text, email, or call that isn’t a scam you’re already aware of but doesn’t seem quite right, the next step is to look for red flags.

2. Know the Signs of Fraudulent Activity

Scammers may be resourceful, but their business is one of quantity rather than quality. For the most part, scam messages and phishing attempts will have some core features that should clue you in that the communication isn’t legitimate.

• Spelling and grammatical errors. If a business sends you a message — especially an important one about something like a suspicious login attempt or a need for financial information — it’s going to be completely free from errors and typos. They pay people to fix that. So, if you notice the grammar is a little off or some words aren’t spelled correctly, that’s a strong indicator it’s a scam.
  

• The message includes links with shortened URLs. Legitimate communications will have clear, straightforward links to recognizable websites. Scammers will use these shorter URLs because they disguise the actual domain name until you click, making it more likely you’ll miss the fact that the message has sent you to login to your Amazon account at Amazon.com, or some similarly scammy address.
  

• There’s a strong sense of urgency. We can all admit it: none of us wants to answer the phone. Pretty much ever. Despite this, if you need to get in touch with someone urgently, you’re going to call them. Businesses will do the same. If you receive a message telling you that you need to do something in a tone that suggests a bomb might go off at any moment if you don’t act fast, pause before acting. If there were really a crisis, you’d know about it through other means.

The false sense of urgency, particularly, is a hallmark of scammers. It’s designed to make you panic. Because when you’re panicking, you’re not thinking clearly, and you’re less likely to notice other red flags that crop up in the process of getting scammed. 

So, the next step you need to take to avoid scams, whether or not you’ve identified these red flags, is all about interrupting this sense of urgency.

3. Confirm Before You Act

Maybe you’ve spotted some of the red flags we’ve mentioned in the message you’re questioning, maybe you haven’t. Either way, your gut told you to double-check the veracity of the communication for a reason, so before you click anything, confirm whether the message is real.

For instance, let’s say you received a random verification code text. You get messages like this all the time, and this one is from a website or app you do actually have an account with. It might look legitimate in all other ways, except that you haven’t recently logged into your account. 

The scammer is hoping you’ll panic that a hacker is trying to get in, and click the link to reset your password or login to your account, thereby giving them access. So, check where the text is coming from. Have you gotten previous verification codes from that site or app? Have they come from the same number? Is the link to a recognizable URL? 

If you can’t confirm these things and still want to reset your information to be safe, always go to the official website independently and reset your password that way. When you’re really in doubt, you can also go to the website and contact their support directly.

4. Protect Your Account Information

While following steps one through three will help you avoid scams, it’s also important to protect your accounts in the first place. Use strong, unique passwords for every login you create. Use letters, numbers, and special characters. Ideally, this combination should be random so it’s not something a scammer might be able to guess using information found about you online.

Set up two-factor authentication, too. And if you want an extra layer of protection, you’ll need a Burner phone. 

By creating an additional phone number in our app, you can sign up for new accounts or apps using this secondary phone number. You’ll receive verification codes and text communications as normal, but your accounts won’t be linked to any personal info through your phone number.

Plus, if a scammer does get access to your number, the best way to avoid scams is to block unwanted calls entirely. With a Burner number, you can just delete the phone line. No more guessing which texts are real and which aren’t.

FAQs

What are the most common Internet scams?

Scammers often try to trick people into sending money or personal information. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Common scams include advance fee schemes, Nigerian letter or advance fee scams, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, and telemarketing fraud schemes.

Can a scammer withdraw money from my bank account?

Your bank account number alone is not enough for someone to withdraw money from your account. Scammers can use your bank account and routing number to commit ACH fraud, make online purchases, deposit money for illegal activities, and create fraudulent checks.

What not to do when you get scammed?

Do not reply to emails, messages, or letters that the scammer sends. Do not make any more payments to the scammer. Beware of additional scammers who may contact you claiming they can help you get your lost money back.

Protect Yourself With Confidence

Protecting yourself online doesn’t have to be a full-time job. There are simple steps you can take to avoid scams and ensure that your private information stays that way. With Burner, you can create additional phone lines to help organize your life, filter out scammers, and ensure that the only people who can reach you are the ones you actually want to speak with.

Sources:

Stop! Think Fraud | Stop! Think Fraud Campaign

The Latest Scams You Need to be Aware of in 2025 | Experian

Use Strong Passwords | CISA

How To Spot and Avoid Toll Road Payment Scam Texts | FCC

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