Check card
Tools and tables

Check card

One printable page: the four signs, the payment rule, the call-back line, four moves for checking what you read, and blank lines for your own bank, card and phone company numbers.

Print this page on one side of a letter sheet and keep it by the phone, on the fridge or folded in a wallet. The recognizing scams and checking what you read chapters explain each line.

The four signs of a scam

  1. They pretend to be someone you know: your bank, a company, the government, a relative.
  2. They say there is a problem or a prize.
  3. They push you to act now.
  4. They tell you how to pay.

The payment rule

Anyone who insists on gift cards, a wire transfer, cryptocurrency, a crypto ATM, a payment app or cash handed to a courier is a scammer. No real bank or agency tells you to move money to protect it.

The call-back line

"I'll call you back at the number I have." Then hang up, and call the number on your card, statement or bill.

Never read a code from a text or an app to anyone who contacted you.

Before you share, pay or reply

  1. Stop.
  2. Investigate the source: search for who is behind it, in a new tab.
  3. Find better coverage: what do other reliable sources say?
  4. Trace the claim or the photo back to where it started.

My numbers

Copied from my own card, statement or bill:

My bank
My card company
My phone company
Someone I call first

Free help: AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline 877-908-3360. Report fraud: ReportFraud.ftc.gov. learndigitalsecurity.com

Sources: the four signs, the payment rule and the call-back habit are the FTC's and the Social Security Administration's (Recognizing scams links each page); the four moves are Mike Caulfield's SIFT (Checking what you read). The card text is our own wording.