Staying safe
Recognizing a trap text message
What you will be able to do In 5 minutes, you'll know how to spot a text message trying to trap you, and what to do with it.
The message arrives on your phone like any other. It talks about a parcel, a fine, a refund. It's short, polite, and it asks you to act right now. This message has a name: it's a phishing text message, a fake text that imitates a service to get you to tap a link. We're going to take one apart together, on a screen we built ourselves. Nothing here is real, so nothing can happen to you.
Simulated screen
I practice
This screen was drawn by us. Nothing is sent, nothing is installed, and no real brand is shown.
The situationIt's 6 pm, you're expecting a parcel. This message arrives.
The interactive exercise needs JavaScript. The written step by step, just below, says exactly the same thing.
The written step by step
The same steps, in words, to read or print. This sheet works even without the exercise.
The sentence that pressures
Your turn Read the message. Tap the sentence that's trying to rush you.
The sentence "Without payment within 48 hours, the parcel will be sent back" is the string that pulls. That's the one to spot first.
Who's really talking
Your turn Now tap what tells you who sent this message.
At the top of the conversation, the sender is an unknown mobile number. For a parcel, that's already enough to know.
Reading the address without opening the link
Your turn The full address of the link is shown below the message. Tap the site name, the part that matters.
You read an address in parts: after "https://" and up to the first forward slash, that's the site name. Here, parcel-tracking-delivery.example. The rest is just decoration.
What to do with the message
Your turn The trap is unmasked. Tap what you do now.
You report it, then delete it. Reporting is done by forwarding the message to 33700, a free service made for this.
Checking through your own door
Your turn You might actually be expecting a parcel. Tap the safe way to find out.
You open the delivery company's app yourself, or your account with the seller. The tracking is there, and it tells the truth.
The sheet to keep
- A message that pressures you is a message that manipulates you. The deadline is the trap.
- The sender's name can be written, so it can be copied. An unknown mobile number for a parcel: that's fake.
- In an address, only the name right before the first forward slash matters.
- The padlock says the connection is encrypted, not that the site is honest.
- You don't reply, you don't call back, you don't touch the link. You report it to 33700, then delete it.
- To check, you go through your own door: your app, your account, your address typed by hand.
The reflexes in this skill
I stop before I click
Urgency is the sign of a trap. A message that counts down the hours is trying to stop you from thinking. Putting your phone down for two minutes costs nothing, and it is almost always enough.
I look at WHO is speaking
A displayed name is just text, so it can be copied. What matters is the exact address of the sender, or their phone number. A delivery announced from an unknown mobile number is not a delivery.
The padlock is not enough: I read the address
The little padlock icon means the connection is encrypted, not that the site is honest. A scam site has one too. The name of the site sits just before the first forward slash: that is where to look.
I go through the official door
The address typed in by hand, the app installed from the official store, the phone number printed on the back of your card. Never the link someone hands you, even when it looks right.
No one serious ever rushes me
No threats, no countdown, no secret to keep. And asking for help is a reflex, not a failure: saying it out loud to someone makes most scams fall apart.
Two questions to check
Nothing is graded, and nothing is saved anywhere except in your own browser.
A text message tells you a fine must be paid immediately. What's the surest sign it's a trap?
See the answer
The message pressures you and threatens a consequence if you don't pay right now
Spelling mistakes have almost disappeared from these messages, and a real service can write on a Sunday. Urgency, though, remains the constant signal: it's there to stop you from checking.
You want to know if the message is telling the truth. What do you do?
See the answer
I open the app or website I already know myself
The link and the reply both lead to them. Your own app or account, opened by you, give the real answer.
I've done it
Check this box once you can do this skill on your own.
Your progress stays in your own browser.