Principle

Don’t trust the name on the screen

You are tempted to trust a message because the caller ID, From name, or sender looks familiar.

Spoofing the display is cheap and routine. Scammers can make a call appear to come from your bank, your local police, your own phone number, or a family member. Email From fields are equally forgeable for anyone willing to spend an afternoon learning how.

Treat the name on the screen as a label, not as identification. Identification comes from calling back, replying through a known channel, or confirming through a second route.

Scams this applies to