Utility Shutoff Call? Check the Claim Through Your Own Bill
An urgent caller says your electricity will be disconnected. Use your own utility bill to check the account before sharing details or making a payment.
- phone scams
- scam recognition
Scam Prevention Blog
Practical guides on recognizing, preventing, and responding to scams, written by the anti-scam software team at STOPTHESCAM.
Unpaid Toll Text? Check Your Toll Account Before You Pay
Got a toll-payment text after a drive? Check the claimed charge through your own toll account or independently reached agency before paying.
- text scams
- scam recognition
Browser Warning Says to Call Support? Close It Without Calling
For Windows users facing a browser warning with a phone number: close the browser through Windows, then reopen without restoring the warning page.
- tech support scams
- everyday scams
Parking Meter QR Code? Verify Where to Pay Before You Scan
For drivers facing a parking-payment QR code: find the operator independently, confirm the payment route, and check the session before walking away.
- phishing
- everyday scams
- parking
Package Address Text? Check Your Order Before You Respond
Expecting a delivery and got an address-update text? Use your retailer's order record to check the shipment without opening the message's link.
- text scams
- online shopping
- phishing
Apartment Holding Deposit? Verify Who You Are Paying First
Asked to pay a deposit to hold an apartment? Check the listing and the person collecting payment independently before sending money.
- rental scams
- payments
- scam recognition
Remote Job Offer? Verify the Equipment Request Before You Pay
A recruiter wants you to pay for work equipment or deposit a check first. Learn how to verify the request with the employer independently.
- job scams
- scam recognition
- prevention
Selling Online? Keep Verification Codes Out of the Buyer Chat
A marketplace buyer asks for a code to prove you are real. Learn what that request means and how to decline it without sharing the code.
- online selling
- scam recognition
- prevention
Vision 3.1.8: A Switch VoiceOver Can Now Name
Use VoiceOver with Vision? The phone settings switch now announces its name. Learn what changed in 3.1.8 and how to hear it without changing a setting.
- vision
- release notes
- accessibility
Vision 3.1.6 and 3.1.7: Where a Text Goes, and a Tab VoiceOver Names
Two small Vision releases: a text SMS Filtering sends on for a second look now reaches the right service, and VoiceOver can name the AI Detective tab.
- vision
- release notes
- accessibility
- privacy
- text scams
Vision 3.1.0 and 3.1.1: A Second Pair of Ears for a Call on Speaker
Live Shield listens beside a call on speaker or a voicemail, names the tactic it hears, and keeps every word on your phone. What it can and cannot hear.
- vision
- release notes
- phone scams
- privacy
Vision 3.1.2 to 3.1.5: A Check Counter You Can Read, and Hear
Four small Vision releases, one thread: Detective now shows checks used and checks remaining, and VoiceOver reads that counter as one natural sentence.
- vision
- release notes
- accessibility
How to Protect an Aging Parent Without Taking Over Their Life
Scam protection for an older parent fails when it feels like surveillance. A plan built on one conversation, a family password, and a few account settings.
- elder fraud
- family safety
- prevention
You Sent Money to a Scammer: What to Do in the First 24 Hours
A recovery checklist for scam victims: who to call first by payment type, how to lock accounts and credit, where to report, and how to avoid recovery scams.
- incident response
- recovery
- payments
- identity theft
The Grandparent Scam: Why Urgency Is the Whole Trick
A frightened voice and a demand for secrecy. How family emergency scams work, why cloned voices changed them, and the family password that stops them.
- scam recognition
- phone scams
- elder fraud
- family safety
Gift Cards, Wires, and Crypto ATMs: The Payments Scammers Ask For
The story can be flawless, but the payment request cannot be faked. Why criminals ask for gift cards, wires, and crypto, and which methods actually protect you.
- prevention
- payments
- scam recognition
- fundamentals
Reading a Suspicious Email: Addresses, Links, and Attachments
Phishing email has outgrown bad grammar. What to check instead: the real sending address, the true link destination, attachments, and out-of-band verification.
- scam recognition
- phishing
- prevention
Caller ID Is Not Evidence: How Phone Scams Actually Work
Caller ID can be forged, voices can be cloned, and a familiar number proves nothing. How phone scams are built, and the callback rule that defeats all of them.
- scam recognition
- phone scams
- prevention
- fundamentals
Text Message Scams: How to Read a Smishing Message
Unpaid tolls, held packages, bank alerts, wrong numbers. How to read a scam text, check a link safely, and report it to your carrier in under a minute.
- scam recognition
- phishing
- text scams
- prevention
How to Spot a Scam: Seven Signals That Show Up in Almost Every One
Scams change costume constantly; the machinery underneath does not. Seven signals that identify a scam on any channel, and the habit that beats all of them.
- scam recognition
- prevention
- fundamentals