Know What to Look For
Spam Calls, Phishing Texts & Digital Scams: How to Recognize and Respond
Attackers count on confusion and urgency. Clarity is your best defense.
This page covers the most common digital manipulation tactics used against individuals, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations today. From spam calls to AI-generated phishing emails, you will learn how to recognize the signs, respond correctly, and protect the people around you.
Red Flags Checklist
- Urgency or pressure to act immediately
- Requests for gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency
- Asking you to keep the interaction secret
- Mismatched email domains or slight misspellings
- Unexpected password reset or login notification emails
- Someone claiming to be tech support who contacted you first
- Too-good-to-be-true offers, prizes, or inheritance claims
If it feels urgent, slow down. Urgency is a manipulation tool. The real thing can almost always wait 10 minutes for you to verify.