About Is This A Scam?

Most scam messages lean on the same handful of tricks: a deadline, a familiar brand, a link that isn't quite the real website, a request for money or a code. They're easy to spot when someone points them out and easy to miss when you're in a hurry. This site does the pointing out, and the guides explain the most common scams so you can recognise them on your own next time.

When you press check, this is what happens:

1. Your browser sends the text you pasted to our server. You don't give us an account, a name, or an email to do this.
2. Our server checks that you haven't gone over the usage limit (10 checks a minute and 100 a day from one IP address). This is what keeps the tool free for everyone.
3. The text is sent to Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash AI model, along with a fixed set of instructions we wrote. Those instructions tell it to look for the usual scam signals — pressure and deadlines, impersonated brands, lookalike web addresses, requests for money, gift cards, crypto or codes — and to say so honestly when a message looks legitimate rather than inflating the risk.
4. The model sends back a verdict (Scam, Likely Scam, Verify Directly, Likely Safe, or Safe), a risk score from 0 to 100, a one-line summary, the specific red flags it found, any signs the message could be genuine, and suggested next steps. That result is shown in your browser.

Messages can be up to 8,000 characters. For what happens to your message along the way, see our privacy page.

The checker reads the words in front of it. That's useful, but it has real limits, and it's worth being clear about them:

• It can be wrong in both directions. It can flag a genuine message from your bank as suspicious, and it can miss a well-written scam.
• It can't see who actually sent the message. Sender names and phone numbers can be faked, and a message that looks exactly like the real thing may not be.
• It doesn't open links or visit websites. It judges a web address by how it reads, not by where it currently leads.

So treat a verdict as a second opinion, not proof. If a message is about your money or your accounts, check with the company directly: open their official app, type their website address yourself, or call the number on your card or statement — never a number or link supplied by the message.

Checking a message costs nothing and needs no account, no email, and no payment. The usage limits above exist so the tool stays free and available.

We aren't affiliated with any company, bank, or government agency mentioned on this site. Everything here is informational — not legal, financial, or security advice.

You can reach us at support@isthisascam.fyi.