Americans reported $20.9 billion lost to online crime last year, the worst year on record, and AI can now copy a loved one's voice from a short video. (FBI IC3, 2025)
The best defense isn't an app. It's a conversation. A safe word, a pause before any money moves, a call back on a number you already have: it all starts with one family talk.
That's why we built this site: to help you start that conversation, with free tools to get it going. Our goal: help 100,000 families have that talk before a scammer calls.
Pick one. We'll show you what to say, what to set up, and what to do first.
Got a strange text, email, or call right now? Check it with the free Scam Detector.
One more question
Pick the one that sounds most like your family.
One more question
You're in the right place. The next steps are free.
If money just moved, call your bank's fraud line now. Use the number on the back of the card.
Good call
Most families have this talk after something happens. You're having it before. That's the whole difference.
Your parents aren't careless. The people calling them do this for a living, and a computer can now copy a grandchild's voice from a short video. Being careful isn't enough anymore. A family that talked first is what beats it.
So we built the tools for that talk. Not a lecture, and not about them getting older. A safe word, one rule, and the words to bring it up.
Not sure where your family stands? Take the free 3-minute Family Scam Score →
The Parent Protection Playbook gives you the exact words to say, the safeguards to set up together, and what to do if something is already going on. Six short books. $39.
See the Parent Protection PlaybookGood call
Strange calls and texts aren't random. Once a number answers, it goes on a list, and the calls get better and more personal. Almost falling for one means they're on that list.
It has nothing to do with how sharp your parent is. These calls are built to work on careful people: a scared voice, a deadline, a reason not to tell anyone. And you can't screen every one for them.
So we built two rules they can use alone, the moment the phone rings, and the words to bring it up without a lecture.
Has money or information already gone out? Go here for free next steps.
Not sure where your family stands? Take the free 3-minute Family Scam Score →
The Parent Protection Playbook gives you the exact words to say, the safeguards to set up together, and what to do if something is already going on. Six short books. $39.
See the Parent Protection PlaybookGood call
You noticed something. That instinct is usually right, and it's the reason most of these get caught at all.
Here's the trap: if you accuse, your parent will defend the person. That's not stubbornness. It's what anyone does when someone they care about gets attacked. If you ask a calm question instead, they start to wonder on their own. That works better.
So we wrote the questions for you. Ask one, not a hundred.
Has money already been sent? Go here for free next steps.
Not sure where your family stands? Take the free 3-minute Family Scam Score →
The Parent Protection Playbook gives you the exact words to say, the safeguards to set up together, and what to do if something is already going on. Six short books. $39.
See the Parent Protection PlaybookGood call
Most parents find out about this after a kid is already scared and hiding it. You're here before that.
Scammers who go after kids and teens count on one thing: that a kid will be too ashamed to tell you. The kids who get through it best already know they can come to you without getting in trouble. That promise is the protection, and it has to be said before anything happens.
So we wrote the talk for you. How to start it, what to say, and exactly what to do if it ever happens.
Is your child being threatened right now? Don't pay. Go to page 9 of the guide. If they talk about hurting themselves, call or text 988 and stay with them.
Not sure where your family stands? Take the free 3-minute Family Scam Score →
The Family Protection Playbook is four short books for the whole house: fake family-emergency calls, five safeguards, what to say to everyone, and the phone settings that matter. Plus a guide written for your teen and a family plan for the fridge. $39.
See the Family Protection PlaybookGood call
Most families protect Grandma and forget the teenager, or the other way around. You're doing the whole house at once. That's the smart way, because scammers don't pick one person. They pick whoever answers.
Three habits stop most scams: a family word, nobody sends money while scared or rushed, and everyone calls back on a number they already have. None of it takes more than one dinner.
So we built the tools for that dinner. The word to pick, something to show them, and a way to check anything strange on any phone.
Not sure where your family stands? Take the free 3-minute Family Scam Score →
The Family Protection Playbook is four short books for the whole house: fake family-emergency calls, five safeguards, what to say to everyone, and the phone settings that matter. Plus a guide written for your teen and a family plan for the fridge. $39.
See the Family Protection PlaybookGood call
You're ahead of most people already. Most of us never think about what we'd do until a caller says a grandson is in jail, or the bank needs a code, right now.
These calls aren't built to fool careless people. They're built to make anyone scared, rushed, and alone for about ten minutes. That's all they need.
So we boiled it down to three rules that work no matter what story they tell. Nothing to install, nothing to memorize.
Got a strange text or email? Paste it into the free Scam Detector. Nothing to sign up for.
Want to see how ready your household is? Take the free Family Scam Score →
Why this exists. I'm JB Bouck. I got scammed, and for a year I didn't tell anyone. I run a business. I'd read about scams. It worked on me anyway, because it was built to. What I learned is that the silence cost more than the money. So this whole site is about one thing: getting families to talk before the call comes. Most of what's here is free. The guides go further, with the words already written for your parents, your kids, and your spouse. So when your dad says "I'm not stupid," you already know what to say next.
Thirty seconds, your own phone
Record fifteen seconds. We’ll play you the call a scammer would make to your mother — in your voice. Then we’ll give you the four questions that stop it.
Real organizations give you time. Pressure to act this minute is the single biggest warning sign. Until you’ve checked:
The scale of it
Not our numbers — the FBI’s and the Federal Trade Commission’s, from their 2025 reports. And every figure below counts only the people who came forward.
$20.9B
lost to internet crime in 2025 — the worst year on record
FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
$7.75B
of it taken from Americans 60 and older — a 59% jump in one year
FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
$15.9B
in fraud losses reported to the FTC in 2025 — an all-time record
Federal Trade Commission
$893M
lost to AI-assisted scams — 22,364 complaints, the first year the FBI counted them separately
FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report
Two more numbers. Imposter scams — fake banks, agencies, and family — have been the FTC’s #1 fraud category five years running. And most people who are scammed tell no one. If the reported losses are this large, the real ones are larger. That silence is the part a family can actually fix — tonight, for free, with a safe word and a no-shame agreement.
Sources: FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report · FTC Consumer Sentinel data, June 2026 · figures last reviewed September 2026.
What the experts say
The FBI tells families to pick a secret word. The FTC, AARP, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children all say the same thing about scams: talk about them before one happens. We agree. This site exists to make both easy to start.
FBI
“Create a secret word or phrase with your family members to verify their identities.”
Federal Trade Commission
“One of the best ways to fight fraud is to talk about it.”
AARP
“Start the conversation, if possible, before fraud has occurred. If it has, never blame the victim.”
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
“Online Safety: Talk about it Early and Often!”
Quotes are from each organization’s own page, checked September 2026. They don’t endorse The Scam Hotline, and we aren’t affiliated with any of them.
The scam check
Answer a few simple questions — how they contacted you, who they claimed to be, what they asked for. One question at a time, big buttons, and you can go back at any point.
At the end you’ll get a plain-language read on the warning signs, what to do next, and exactly who to contact.
We will never ask for passwords, account numbers, Social Security numbers, or verification codes. This tool is educational — it can’t guarantee whether any message is legitimate, but it can show you how to verify safely.
Start the Scam CheckDid you recently get something suspicious? Paste it into the Scam Detector — know in 15 seconds →
Know what they sound like
Every one of these follows a script. Once you’ve seen the script, it stops working on you. Open any card to see how it works — and how to shut it down.
“Your account is compromised — move your money now.”
“Grandma, I’m in trouble — please don’t tell Mom.”
“There’s a warrant. Pay today or be arrested.”
Months of affection — then an emergency needing money.
“Your computer is infected. Call this number.”
A voice you’d swear you know, asking for help fast.
What families need to know now
One real scam, the reason it works, and the conversation to have before it reaches your family.
November 9, 2026
Selling tickets or valuables online? Learn why different names, third-party pickup, and a Zelle deposit should make you pause before completing the sale.
Read the alertNovember 8, 2026
Got a PayPal email about a charge you do not recognize? Learn how fake payment notices work and how to check your account without stepping into the trap.
Read the alertNovember 7, 2026
Got a verification code you didn't request? Learn what it may mean, what not to share, and how to check the account safely.
Read the alertThe truth about getting fooled
Doctors get scammed. Engineers, teachers, retired bank managers. A scam was never an intelligence test. It’s a pressure machine, built and rehearsed, aimed at feelings all of us have:
“You must act in the next 30 minutes.”
“Your savings are at risk. There’s a warrant.”
“This is the bank. This is the government.”
“Don’t tell anyone — it will make it worse.”
“You’ve won. You just have to claim it.”
Weeks or months of warmth, built to be spent.
Jargon and moving instructions, on purpose.
“Your grandson needs you right now.”
If one of these has worked on you or someone you love, you’re in good company, and you’re in the right place. The defense isn’t being smarter. It’s knowing what to do before fear, urgency, or hope takes over.
How The Scam Hotline helps
A text that doesn't sit right. A call from "the bank." An email you almost clicked. Bring it here and we'll look at it together, one question at a time.
Check a Possible ScamMoney or information is gone. Skip everything else on this site — there's a window where the right phone calls still work, and we'll make them in order.
Get Recovery HelpOne safe word picked at dinner. One rule about money. A five-minute talk nobody dreads. That's most of it, honestly.
Protect Your FamilyFor adult children
Lecturing backfires. Taking over backfires. The families that stay safe are the ones that talk about scams the way they talk about the weather: calmly, early, and as a team, with everyone following the same rules. Adult children included.
Instead of: “You need to be more careful — you almost got scammed.”
Try: “These new scams are fooling everyone — I set up a code word with my own bank. Want to pick one for our family at dinner?”
One reframe, from protecting them to rules we all follow, changes the whole conversation.
For the conversation you’ve been putting off
Everything free on this site tells you what to do. The hard part is the other thing — sitting across from your dad, who ran a business for forty years, and finding words that don’t sound like you think he’s slipping. Get that wrong once and the door closes.
So we wrote the words. The Parent Protection Playbook is the scripts, the printable question cards that let your parents reach the conclusion themselves, and the book on having the whole conversation with their dignity intact. Worried about an online relationship? There’s a script for that talk too — you could use it tonight.
$39 · read it after dinner, have the talk this weekend
Free · about 3 minutes
Ten questions, about three minutes.
Ten questions, one for each safeguard that actually decides whether a scam works on your family — the credit freeze, the safe word, the bank tripwires, the pause rule.
You’ll get your score out of 10, the three fixes to start with, and a printable checklist. It covers the whole household: parents, grandparents, and kids.
Get Your Family Scam Score
The book
Why modern scams work on smart people, and the small set of habits that makes them fail. JB Bouck wrote it after getting taken himself, so it keeps one promise on every page: no jargon, no shame.
They almost sent it
Shared with permission. Names are abbreviated for privacy.
“I found the site at 1 a.m., scared to death about a man my mother had been talking to online. I used the script word-for-word the next morning. She hadn’t sent the $7,800 yet — and after that conversation, she never did.”— Melissa R., 42, Fort Worth, TX
“The text looked exactly like AT&T. What stopped me was one line from the book: urgency is the scammer’s superpower. I put the phone down, called the number on my bill, and of course — no problem with my account.”— Bill H., 72, Scottsdale, AZ
“An email from a vendor asked us to update their banking details. Because of Fooled, our rule is simple now: money requests get verified on a second channel. One phone call saved us from wiring to a criminal.”— Jason L., 51, Dallas, TX
Who’s behind this
The Scam Hotline is an independent educational resource built to reach families before the mistake. It exists because the founder needed it once himself and couldn’t find it. The guidance here is drawn from publicly documented cases and the published resources of the FTC, the FBI, and AARP. Our goal is simple: a calm, practical answer in front of every family before the call comes.
