Find the guide for what's happening to you

How the search works

It compares what you type with two things in each of our guides: the words people commonly use for that pattern, such as "toll," "gift cards" or "grandson," and the requests the guide teaches you to spot, such as being asked to read back a code or to buy cards and send the numbers. The guides that share the most, and the strongest, are listed first, each with the words that matched. A short search like "toll text" finds a guide by its subject; a whole message is read for its requests too.

A match is a place to start reading, not a verdict. The search finds guides; it can't tell whether a particular message is real, and it can't tell who sent it. A long message can share a word or two with a guide by chance, and a scam can be worded in ways no list of words covers. The rules above hold either way.

Requests without a guide of their own

Some requests turn up in many kinds of scam, or have no guide of their own here, so the search doesn't list a guide for them alone. What the FTC says about each:

• A payment app. The FTC: "Some scammers may try to trick you into sending them money through a mobile payment app. That’s because they know once you do, it’s hard for you to get your money back."
• A threat to cut off your power, gas or water. Scammers pretending to be your gas, electric or water company threaten to shut off your service unless you pay right away. The FTC says "real utility companies won’t demand immediate payment to avoid same-day disconnection." Call the number on your bill.
• Your personal or financial details. "Honest organizations won't call, email, or text to ask for your personal information," such as your Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers.
• A prize. Being told there's a problem or a prize is one of the FTC's four common signs of a scam, along with pretending to be an organization you know, pressure to act now, and being told to pay in a specific way.

How to describe what happened

• A few words: what it was about, and what you were asked to do. "Text about an unpaid toll," "caller wants gift cards," "my computer froze and said to call Microsoft."
• A phone call or voicemail: type what the caller said, or wanted you to do, in your own words.
• An email on a computer: drag across the words with your mouse to select them, press Ctrl and C together (Command and C on a Mac), click in the box above, and press Ctrl and V (Command and V).
• A text message on a phone: press and hold the message until a menu appears, tap Copy, then press and hold in the box above and tap Paste.

To search, press "Find my guide." On a computer, Ctrl and Enter together (Command and Enter on a Mac) does the same.

What it can't do

It reads words only. It can't see pictures, logos or attachments, can't tell who really sent a message, and doesn't know whether a phone number belongs to who it says. It doesn't open or read links: to see whose address a link or a sender's email address belongs to, copy just the link or the address into the link checker. In an email, a link that reads www.paypal.com can open a completely different site, so copy the link itself (right-click it, or press and hold it on a phone, and choose Copy link), not the words you see.

It doesn't save anything. But if you leave the page and come back with your browser's Back button, your browser may still show what you typed, so press "Clear the box" when you're done.

Reporting a message

The FTC suggests forwarding a phishing email to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org, and a phishing text to 7726 (the digits spell SPAM). 7726 is a code for forwarding texts, not a number to call. You can also report a scam at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.