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Independent consumer protection publication Educational guidance — not legal or financial advice

Free tool · Beta

Scam Checker: Paste a Message to See Red Flags

Paste a suspicious email, text message, or social-media direct message into the box below. We will scan it for the red-flag language and payment patterns our editors track across known scams.

Privacy: the text you paste is analyzed by our server and is not stored, indexed, or shared with third parties. We never see real names, account numbers, or other personal details in our logs.

Minimum 20 characters. Maximum 12,000 characters. This tool is a rule-based screener — not legal or financial advice.

How the check works

We look for the language and patterns Americans report most often: gift-card or wire payment demands, requests for passwords or one-time codes, urgency and threat language, look-alike brand domains, advance-fee templates (lottery, inheritance, partnership), tech-support remote-access scripts, and impersonation of agencies like the IRS, SSA, and Medicare.

The result is a verdict (highly likely scam, likely scam, possibly suspicious, or no known patterns) plus the specific red flags found, each linked to a guide on what to do.

Important caveats

  • "No known patterns" does not mean safe. New scams appear constantly. Trust your instincts and verify through an official channel.
  • This tool does not contact senders or recover money. Use it as a second opinion before you reply, click, or pay.
  • If you already lost money, stop here and use our Get Help checklist.
  • If you want to warn others, please submit a scam report.