Is this a scam? Ask before you click.
That text about an unpaid toll. The email from 'your bank.' The too-good marketplace deal. AI is remarkably good at spotting scams — if you ask before acting.
Scam messages work because they create urgency — pay this toll now, your account will be locked, your parcel is waiting. The single best defence is a pause. Here's a way to make that pause productive: show the message to an AI and ask what it thinks. It has seen every scam pattern there is.
The habit: paste first, click never
Don’t click anything in the message
Not the link, not "unsubscribe," not "view details." Nothing.
Copy the message text — or screenshot it
Press and hold on the message to copy it. Or screenshot it and attach the image in the ChatGPT or Gemini app.
Paste it in with the prompt below
Read the verdict before you do anything else.
Is this message likely a scam? Here it is between the lines:
---
[paste the suspicious message here]
---
Tell me: 1) the warning signs you see, 2) how this scam usually works if it is one, 3) what I should do now. I have not clicked anything.
What the AI will spot that you might not
A sender address that almost matches the real company. Urgency language designed to bypass thinking. A link where the real destination doesn't match the visible text. Requests no legitimate organisation makes by text — gift cards, codes, "verification" payments. Grammar patterns common in mass scam campaigns. You'd spot some of these on a good day. The AI spots them every time, in seconds.
Works on more than texts
I found this listing: a nearly-new [item] for about a third of the usual price. The seller wants a deposit by bank transfer to hold it and says they're away so pickup isn't possible. Scam or not? What are the tests I can apply?
Someone called saying they were from my bank’s fraud team and asked me to move money to a "safe account." I hung up. Was that the right call, and what should I do now?
Someone I met online months ago has never video-called me, and today they asked for money for an emergency. I want to believe them. Give me an honest assessment of the pattern here.
The golden rules AI can't replace
These hold no matter what any message, caller, or AI says:
• Never share a code someone else asked you to read out. Banks never ask. Ever.
• Contact organisations through the number on your card or their official app — never through a number or link in a message.
• Real urgency is rare. Anyone rushing you is telling you something.
• If money has already been sent, contact your bank immediately — don't be embarrassed, be fast.
Share this habit
The people most targeted by scams are often the least likely to have an AI app installed. Set this up on a parent's or grandparent's phone, run one example together, and put the prompt somewhere they can find it. Ten minutes of setup; years of protection.
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