Job scams6 minute read
Work and employment
Fake recruiter and task scams
Unexpected remote-job messages turn into fake cheques, paid tasks, equipment fees or requests to deposit your own money.
Scams by type
Social media and dating scams: a profile is not a person.
On social platforms anyone can borrow a stranger’s photos, a brand’s logo or a friend’s hacked account. The contact usually starts pleasantly — a giveaway, a compliment, a match, an investment tip — and the request for money, codes or images comes later, once trust is in place.
In 2023 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reported that one in four people who had lost money to fraud since 2021 said it started on social media. The guides below cover the patterns that begin there and on dating apps. The common defence is to verify the person or offer somewhere the scammer does not control, and to slow down the moment money enters the conversation.
8 guides · Updated 13 October 2026
The guides
Choose the one that matches.
Each guide shows a realistic example with the warning signs marked, how to verify the contact without using its details, and what to do if you already acted.
Investment fraud6 minute read
Money and investments
Online investment and crypto fraud
Fake platforms, advisers and AI-generated personalities manufacture trust, profits and urgency before blocking withdrawals.
Romance scams6 minute read
Relationships and trust
Romance scams and relationship investment fraud
A patient online relationship can be engineered to isolate a person, introduce emergencies or investments, and make repeated payments feel like acts of trust.
Recovery scams6 minute read
Money and impersonation
Refund and scam-recovery fraud
People who have already lost money are targeted again by fake investigators, recovery agents and officials who promise guaranteed results for a fee.
Fake shops9 minute read
Shopping and services
Fake online shops and social-media ads
Fake shops use paid adverts, copied brand designs and steep discounts to take payment for goods that never arrive or turn out to be cheap substitutes.
Tickets and travel9 minute read
Shopping and services
Ticket, holiday and booking scams
Sold-out events, holiday deals and travel disruption give scammers a reason to rush you — through resale posts, copycat sites, fake helplines and booking messages that ask you to pay or ‘re-verify’ a card.
Prize and lottery scams9 minute read
Money and impersonation
Prize, lottery and giveaway scams
A message says you have won a lottery, prize draw or giveaway, then asks for a fee, ‘tax’ or your bank details before anything can be released.
Sextortion10 minute read
Relationships and trust
Sextortion emails and image-based threats
Sextortion uses shame and a deadline to demand money, whether it arrives as a mass email bluffing about webcam footage or from a fake online contact threatening to share an intimate image.
What they have in common
Signs that come up again and again.
- Someone you have never met who becomes close very quickly
- Repeated excuses not to video call or meet in person
- A giveaway or prize that needs a fee, a delivery charge or your card details
- Investment tips, trading groups or a ‘mentor’ promising high returns
- A friend’s account suddenly asking for money, a code or a vote
- Threats to share private images unless you pay
What to do
Three moves that work every time.
Verify outside the platform
Contact a friend through another channel you already use, or check a brand’s offer on its official website. For new contacts, talk the situation through with someone you trust.
Keep money, codes and images out of it
Do not send money, one-time codes or private images to anyone you have not met and verified, however strong the connection feels.
Report the profile and block it
Use the platform’s report option so the account can be reviewed, then block it. Keep screenshots in case you need them later.
Practise the pause
What would you do?
Try a realistic scenario before it happens for real. Choose a response and see why it helps or hurts.
Common questions
Short answers.
How can I tell if a profile is fake?
Warning signs include a new account with few genuine interactions, photos that appear elsewhere online, a story that keeps them far away, and a quick move to private messaging. The most reliable test is a live video call — and never sending money before you have met.
Romance scams guideA friend messaged asking for money or a code. What should I do?
Contact them another way — call them, or message them on a different app — before doing anything. Hacked accounts are often used to ask friends for money or for the code that would let the scammer take over their account too.
Verification-code scamsSources