A second set of eyes on suspicious letters, texts, and emails.
Send us the message you want checked
Submit a photograph of a letter, a screenshot, or the text itself. You will have an assessment and the reasoning behind it in about a minute.
An imperfect photograph is usually readable. If it is not, you will be asked for another.
Where the reasoning comes from
Assessments draw on published fraud advisories from the Federal Trade Commission, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.
What happens to what you send
Your photo or text is sent to Anthropic, the company whose software reads it, and the answer comes back to this page. This website does not save your message, your photo or anything you type. If you can, cover or leave out full account numbers before you send it.
Type or paste the text
A portion is sufficient. Include the opening lines and anything it instructs you to do.
One question before we answer
What is your own read on it? Your answer is recorded before ours is shown, which is the only reason it is worth asking.
Reading it now
This usually takes a few seconds.
Assessment
What to do next
That is everything you need
You can close this page now. Nothing is outstanding and nobody will contact you.
Where to report it, and where to get a second opinion
Federal Trade Commission
Reports go into the database used by federal and state investigators. reportfraud.ftc.gov
For anything that arrived by email, text, or online. ic3.gov
AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline
Free specialist advice by telephone. Membership is not required and there is no age requirement. 877-908-3360
Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time
If you have a minute, and only if you do
Two more things you can do
Take any of them, in any order, or none.
How it arrived, and what it asked for
Whether it came by post, by text, or by email. What it wanted you to do. Whether you have already responded. Anything at all.
This part is not about the letter
Receiving one of these is an unpleasant experience. People describe anger, unease, and a sense of intrusion. If it helps to write it down, there is room here. What you write stays on this page and is not saved or sent anywhere.
Thank you. Fraud of this kind is produced at industrial scale by organised operations that test their wording for effect. Recognising that something was designed to work on you says nothing about your judgement.
If you would prefer to discuss it with a specialist rather than a website, the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline is free, and it is open to callers of any age whether or not they are members.
877-908-3360
Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time
If the pressure about money is coming from someone you know, the National Elder Fraud Hotline handles those cases and can refer you to local support. It is also free.
833-372-8311
Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time
If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, please speak to someone today. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline operates at all hours and accepts calls and texts.
Knowing how a case actually resolved is what allows the assessments to improve. One message, two weeks from now, and nothing further.
Noted. One message in two weeks, and nothing further.
Contact details are held separately from the submission itself and are deleted once you reply or after three weeks, whichever comes first.
Send this to someone
Below is a summary of this case with nothing personal in it. Circulating a specific example works better than a general warning, because it gives people something to recognise.
Copied. Open your messages or your email and paste it in.
How did that one turn out
You asked us to check. This is the single message we said we would send.
Thank you. Confirmed outcomes are the most useful information this service receives.