Scams are getting smarter. Your family can get stronger.
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.
- The FBI tells families to create a secret word together.
- The FTC asks everyone to talk about scams with the people they know.
- AARP says to start the conversation before fraud happens.
- The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children tells parents to talk with kids about online safety early and often.
- Sheriffs' offices ask residents to share warnings with family and set a code word.
That's why we built this site, and why every tool on it is free. Our goal: help 100,000 families have that conversation before a scammer calls.
Who do you want to keep safe from scams?
Pick one. We'll show you the free guide that fits.
Got a strange text, email, or call right now? Check it with the free Scam Detector.
One more question
Is there someone new in their life you're not sure about?
Like a new friend or sweetheart they met online or by phone.
One more question
Who did it happen to?
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.
Start here
Start with a family safe word.
Scammers can now copy a voice from a short video. A secret family word is the simplest way to tell a real call from a fake one.
- Hear how real a fake call sounds.Record 15 seconds of your voice and hear the scam call in it. Then play it for your parents.
Try Clone Call (free) - Get the one-page safe word guide.How the word works, the questions to ask on a scary call, and what to say to your parents.
Download the free guide - Pick your word at the next family dinner.Say it out loud. Never text it.
Not sure where your family stands? Take the free 3-minute Family Scam Score →
Want the whole plan for your parents?
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 PlaybookStart here
Ask one question. Not a hundred.
If you accuse, your parent will defend the person. If you ask a calm question, they start to wonder on their own. That works better.
- Get the Five Questions card.Five gentle questions that help your parent notice what doesn't add up.
Download the free card - Ask just one, in a calm moment. Then change the subject and let it sit.
- Stay the safe person. "Whatever happens, you can always tell me. No judgment."
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 →
Want the whole plan for your parents?
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 PlaybookStart here
Have the talk before anything happens.
Some scammers go after kids and teens online, and it can move fast. The kids who get through it best already know they can tell a parent without getting in trouble.
- Read the free guide.What to say, how to start the talk, and exactly what to do if it ever happens.
Download The Talk That Can't Wait - Tell your kids the promise."If anything online ever scares you, come to me. You won't be in trouble."
- Pick a family safe word.It also works for "your mom sent me to pick you up."
Get the safe word guide
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 →
Want the whole plan for your family?
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 PlaybookStart here
Set up your whole family in one evening.
Three habits stop most scams: a secret family word, never sending money while scared or rushed, and calling back on a number you already have.
- Hear a fake call in your own voice.It gets everyone's attention fast.
Try Clone Call (free) - Pick your family word tonight.The free safe word guide shows how, plus the questions to ask on a scary call.
Download the safe word guide - Put the Scam Detector on every phone.Paste any strange text or email and it tells you what's going on.
Open the Scam Detector - Have kids or teens? Get the free guide for talking with them.
Not sure where your family stands? Take the free 3-minute Family Scam Score →
Want the whole plan for your family?
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 PlaybookStart here
Three rules that stop most calls.
Scammers call smart, careful people every day. These three rules work no matter what story they tell.
- Pause.Never send money, gift cards, or a code while you're scared or rushed. A real emergency can wait five minutes.
- Call back.Hang up. Call the person or the bank on a number you already have, not the one that called you.
- Use a family word.Pick a secret word with your family. If a caller can't say it, it isn't them.
Get the safe word guide (free)
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 I didn't tell anyone for a year. I run a business, I'd read about scams, and it still worked on me, because it was built to. Now I help families have the talk before the call comes. Everything on this page is free.
Thirty seconds, your own phone
Hear your own voice say something you never said.
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.
Are you being pressured to act right now?
Real organizations give you time. Pressure to act this minute is the single biggest warning sign. Until you’ve checked:
- Do not send money
- Do not buy gift cards
- Do not share passwords or verification codes
- Do not click the link
- Do not call the number in the message
- Hang up. Contact the organization or family member using a number you already trust.
The scale of it
This is an epidemic, and the numbers say so
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.
The scam check
Let’s look at what happened
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
Here are some common scams targeting people now
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.
Bank impersonation
“Your account is compromised — move your money now.”
Family emergency calls
“Grandma, I’m in trouble — please don’t tell Mom.”
Government impersonation
“There’s a warrant. Pay today or be arrested.”
Romance scams
Months of affection — then an emergency needing money.
Tech-support pop-ups
“Your computer is infected. Call this number.”
AI voice cloning
A voice you’d swear you know, asking for help fast.
The truth about getting fooled
Scammers don’t look for stupid people.
They look for human reactions.
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:
Urgency
“You must act in the next 30 minutes.”
Fear
“Your savings are at risk. There’s a warrant.”
Authority
“This is the bank. This is the government.”
Secrecy
“Don’t tell anyone — it will make it worse.”
Excitement
“You’ve won. You just have to claim it.”
Affection
Weeks or months of warmth, built to be spent.
Confusion
Jargon and moving instructions, on purpose.
The urge to help
“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
Start wherever you are
Something just came in
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 ScamIt already happened
Money 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 HelpNothing yet — keep it that way
One 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
Worried about a parent or someone you love?
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.
- How to start the conversation without triggering defensiveness
- A family safe word that defeats voice-clone calls in five seconds
- A pause-before-payment rule the whole family adopts
- How to verify a “family emergency” before a dollar moves
- How to talk about romance scams with respect
Say this, not that
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
Wondering how to talk to your parents about this?
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. No email required. Your answers stay on your device.
What’s your Family Protection Score?
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
Fooled: Inside the World of Scams
Why modern scams work on smart people, and the small set of habits that makes them fail. Joel Bouck wrote it after getting taken himself, so it keeps one promise on every page: no jargon, no shame.
They almost sent it
Stories from people who stopped and checked
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
“Someone called my dad claiming I’d been arrested and needed bail money. He remembered one thing: hang up and call back directly. He called me. I was at work, perfectly fine. That one habit was the whole ballgame.”— Ott G., 24, Norman, OK
Who’s behind this
An educational mission, not a call center
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.