Phishing & quishing

Days before you close on a home, an email from your 'title company' says the wiring instructions have changed — and your life savings go to a criminal's account. The FBI ties real-estate business email compromise to $446.1 million in reported losses in 2022 alone. Here's how the swap works, and the one phone call that stops it.

The phone is the one channel where the warning is built into the technology — and almost nobody reads it. Caller ID can be faked. A call showing your bank, a government line, or even your own area code proves nothing about who is really calling.

A package "problem," a bank "fraud alert," an unpaid toll, a wrong number that turns friendly. Many of the most-reported scam texts are a handful of repeating templates. Here is the one question that sorts them in seconds, a verdict on the texts being reported most right now, and exactly what to do.

A text from your "bank" asks if you approved a $750 transfer, and to call or reply if you didn't. It is the single most-reported scam text in America. We take one apart phrase by phrase — and show why calling that number is the whole trap.

A text arrives with a six-digit code you didn't request, then someone calls — your "bank," a "buyer," tech "support" — and asks you to read it back. That code is the key to your account, and handing it over is exactly how takeovers happen. Here is the one rule that stops it.

A text says you owe $12.51 in tolls and face a $50 late fee unless you pay now. It is the most common scam text in America. We pull one apart phrase by phrase — and show the one move that beats every version of it.

A polished email warns of an "unusual sign-in" or a failed payment and links you to a login page that steals your password. The branding is copied; the link is the bait. Here is how it works and the free move that beats it.

A text saying your parcel is stuck and needs a small "redelivery fee" leads to a look-alike courier page that steals your card and details. Here is how the scam works, the tells, and the free move that beats it.

Scammers hide harmful links inside QR codes — on stickers, in texts, and on unexpected packages. Here’s how quishing works, the tells, and the free move that defeats it.