--- title: "Is This Text a Scam? Scam Message Checker | Scam Lantern" description: "Paste a text, email or WhatsApp message to see its warning signs, where its links really go and what to do now. Free, private, runs in your browser." url: https://scamlantern.me/ --- Scam text and email checker # Is this text a scam? Shine a light on it Paste the message below and its warning signs light up. A text, email or DM is very likely a scam if it rushes you, asks you to pay by **gift card, crypto, wire or bank transfer**, asks for a **code or password**, or has a **link that doesn’t go to the organisation’s own website**. If in doubt, don’t use the link or number in it: contact the organisation yourself. ## How the checker decides what to light up Every warning sign it looks for comes from an official source, and each one in your result names it. The checker reads the words of the message, finds every link and email address in it, and compares them with what scam-fighting agencies say scammers do. It works the same way for a text, an email, a WhatsApp message or a voicemail you have typed out. - **Pressure and threats.** “Final notice”, “within 12 hours”, late fees, a suspended licence or account, arrest. The FTC, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre and Australia’s Scamwatch all name urgency as a core scam tactic. - **An odd way to pay.** Gift cards, cryptocurrency, wire transfers, payment apps or a bank transfer to a “safe account”. The FTC says only scammers tell you to buy a gift card and hand over the numbers, and only scammers demand cryptocurrency. - **A request for a code or password.** A one-time code lets someone into your account. The FBI says companies generally don’t contact you to ask for your username, password or one-time passcode. - **A link to the wrong website.** If the message says it is from E-ZPass but the link goes somewhere else, that is a mismatch. The checker works out each link’s *registrable domain*: the part of the address an organisation actually owns. - **Lookalike addresses and shortened links.** A spelling that is one letter off, a familiar name with a different ending, or a link shortener that hides the destination: CISA lists these as signs of phishing. Unicode’s security report describes the trick of borrowing letters from another alphabet that look the same. - **“Hi Mum, new number” and “wrong number” openers.** A family member who suddenly has a new phone and needs money, or a friendly stranger who texted the wrong person. Scamwatch and Canada’s Anti-Fraud Centre warn about both. Read a link from the first single slash backwards. Whatever sits just before it, with its ending, is the website you would land on. Everything to the left of that is decoration. ## Worked example: the “unpaid toll” text The example in the box is the kind of text the FBI described in its April 2024 warning about toll smishing: a small unpaid balance, a bigger late fee if you wait, and a link. Here is what the lantern picks out, and why. 1. **The link goes to pay-tolls.example.** The address starts with e-zpassny.com, the real E-ZPass New York site, but that is only the left-hand decoration. The website it really opens is pay-tolls.example, which no toll agency on our list uses. 2. **“Reply Y, then exit and reopen this message.”** Evri warns that scammers ask for this so your phone treats them as a known sender and the link becomes tappable, switching off a protection your phone company added. 3. **“FINAL NOTICE”, “within 12 hours”, “late fee”, “suspension”.** Pressure. The FTC says the scam toll texts tell you to pay immediately. The safe move is the same whatever the result: check your toll account by typing the agency’s address yourself, or call the number on its website or your statement. Our [toll text page](https://scamlantern.me/toll-text-scam/) lists the official toll websites we confirmed, state by state. ## What a clean result means, and what it doesn’t A message with no flags can still be a scam. Scammers change their wording all the time, and some write in a calm, polite way. The checker only knows the web addresses we confirmed for the organisations on our lists, and it can’t see where a shortened link ends up. So every result ends with the same reminder: **No flags doesn’t mean safe. When in doubt, contact the organisation using a number or website you find yourself.** Being caught out by a scam is nothing to be ashamed of. As Scamwatch puts it, it can happen to any of us. If you have already tapped a link, paid or shared details, call your bank or card company now, using the number on your card, and see [where to report it](https://scamlantern.me/report-a-scam/). ## Common mistakes - **Trusting the name at the top.** Scammers can make a text or call look as if it comes from a real organisation. Australia Post says criminals can set the sender name of a text so it looks like theirs, and Canada’s Anti-Fraud Centre says not to trust caller ID. - **Replying “STOP”.** Canada Post says not to reply to suspicious texts, even when they tell you to text “STOP”. - **Calling the number in the message.** Scamwatch says to call back on a number you have found yourself, on the organisation’s website or in the phone book. - **Checking the link by opening it.** Paste it into the checker instead, or copy the address without tapping it. ### Need to know more about a link before you decide? The best move is not to open it at all: contact the organisation directly. If you still need to see where a link goes, look up how old its domain is with WebTraceCheck’s [DNS and domain lookup](https://webtracecheck.com/dns-lookup), or open it in [WebTraceCheck’s disposable cloud browser](https://webtracecheck.com/), which runs on an isolated desktop that is deleted after each session, instead of on your own phone. A brand-new domain is one warning sign, never proof either way. Never type a password, card number or code into a page you reached from a text. Around the holidays, watch out for parcel and toll texts in particular: Canada’s Anti-Fraud Centre lists fake shipping messages and unpaid toll texts among its twelve frauds of the holidays. For shopping-site scams, the [Foxglove Goods](https://foxglovegoods.shop/) fake shop checklist helps, and if an email’s sender looks odd, [MailTraceKit](https://mailtracekit.me/) reads its full headers. ## More tools for the message in front of you Each one answers a single question, with official sources. - [Is the toll text real?](https://scamlantern.me/toll-text-scam/): Paste the link to compare it with official toll agency websites, state by state. - [Fake delivery text checker](https://scamlantern.me/fake-delivery-text/): USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, Royal Mail, Evri, Canada Post, Australia Post and An Post: their real addresses and rules. - [Paid with gift cards?](https://scamlantern.me/gift-card-scam/): Who to call for each card brand, and what to keep, right now. - [Did your bank really call?](https://scamlantern.me/bank-impersonation-call/): A safe callback checklist, 159 in the UK, and the refund rules. - [Where to report a scam](https://scamlantern.me/report-a-scam/): The right services in the right order, plus report notes you can print. ## Recommended Two free services for people who like to check before they click. Disposable cloud browser · domain lookups ### WebTraceCheck If you must see where a link leads, WebTraceCheck opens it in a browser on an isolated desktop that is deleted after each session, so nothing touches your own phone or computer. Its free DNS and domain lookup shows how long a web address has existed; a very new one is a warning sign, though never proof on its own. Nothing to install, with free time every day. [Open WebTraceCheck](https://webtracecheck.com/) Temporary email · no sign-up ### CleanTempMail Quizzes, coupon pages and “free gift” offers often want your email address first. For a one-off download or discount code you need within three days, CleanTempMail gives you a free temporary inbox with no sign-up, emptied automatically after 3 days, so your main address stays out of it. Use your real address for banks, orders, deliveries, accounts and anything you report. [Get a temporary inbox](https://cleantempmail.com/) ## Questions **How can I tell if a text message is a scam?** Look for the four signs the FTC names: it pretends to be an organisation you know, it says there is a problem or a prize, it pressures you to act now, and it tells you to pay in a specific way. A link that doesn’t go to the organisation’s own website is another strong sign. **Is it safe to paste a scam message here?** Yes. The checker runs in your browser and the message is never sent anywhere or saved. Pasting text doesn’t open its links. Just don’t tap the link in the original message. **What if the checker finds no warning signs?** No flags doesn’t mean safe. Scam wording changes all the time. If you weren’t expecting the message, contact the organisation using a phone number or website you find yourself, not the details in the message. **I clicked the link in a scam text. What should I do?** If you typed in card or bank details, call your bank or card company now using the number on your card. If you gave a password, change it and turn on two-step login. The NCSC also suggests running a full scan with your antivirus software if you opened a link on a computer. **Where do I forward a scam text?** In the US, the UK and Canada, forward it to 7726, which spells SPAM. It’s free in the UK and goes to your phone company, which can block the sender. Australia and Ireland work differently; our report page lists what to do there. ## Sources All checked on 5 November 2026. Dates in brackets are the pages’ own dates. - FTC: [How To Avoid a Scam](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-avoid-scam) (July 2023), [How To Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams) (September 2022), [How To Recognize and Report Spam Text Messages](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-report-spam-text-messages) (July 2022), [Avoiding and Reporting Gift Card Scams](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/avoiding-and-reporting-gift-card-scams) (July 2023), [What To Know About Cryptocurrency and Scams](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-cryptocurrency-and-scams) (May 2022), [Scammers Use Fake Emergencies To Steal Your Money](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/scammers-use-fake-emergencies-steal-your-money) (September 2023), [Job Scams](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams) (March 2023), [How To Spot, Avoid, and Report Tech Support Scams](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-and-report-tech-support-scams) (September 2025), [Got a text about unpaid tolls? It’s probably a scam](https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2025/01/got-text-about-unpaid-tolls-its-probably-scam) (17 January 2025) and [What To Do if You Were Scammed](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-do-if-you-were-scammed) (June 2026). - FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: [Smishing Scam Regarding Debt for Road Toll Services](https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA240412) (12 April 2024) and [Account Takeover Fraud via Impersonation of Financial Institution Support](https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA251125) (25 November 2025). - CISA: [Recognize and Report Phishing](https://www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world/recognize-and-report-phishing) and [Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks](https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/avoiding-social-engineering-and-phishing-attacks) (1 February 2021, archived). - UK National Cyber Security Centre: [How to spot a scam email, text message or call](https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/phishing-scams/spot-scams), [Report a scam text](https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/phishing-scams/report-scam-text-message) and [If you’ve shared sensitive information](https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/phishing-scams/what-to-do). GOV.UK: [Avoid and report internet scams and phishing](https://www.gov.uk/report-suspicious-emails-websites-phishing) (11 October 2024). - Scamwatch (ACCC): [Text or SMS scams](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams/text-or-sms-scams), [Methods scammers use](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/stop-check-protect/help-to-spot-and-avoid-scams/methods-scammers-use) and [What to do if you’ve been scammed](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/stop-check-protect/what-to-do-if-youve-been-scammed). - Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: [Emergency](https://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/scams-fraudes/emergency-urgence-eng.htm) (14 January 2026), [Bank investigator](https://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/scams-fraudes/b-investigator-enqueteur-eng.htm) (15 January 2026) and [The 12 frauds of the holidays](https://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/features-vedette/2021/11/holiday-fetes-eng.htm) (25 November 2025). Canada Post: [Recognizing spam, fraudulent emails and text messages](https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/support/kb/company-policies/privacy-security/what-do-to-if-you-get-suspicious-email.page). - Evri: [Cyber security](https://www.evri.com/cyber-security) (on “reply Y”). Australia Post: [Online security, scams and fraud](https://auspost.com.au/about-us/about-our-site/online-security-scams-fraud). - Unicode Consortium: [UTS #39, Unicode Security Mechanisms](https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr39/), version 18.0.0 (27 August 2026), on lookalike letters. IETF: [RFC 5890](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5890.html) (August 2010), on the xn-- form of international web addresses. - Registrable domains come from a subset of the [Public Suffix List](https://publicsuffix.org/), version 2026-11-04_19-07-29_UTC, bundled with the site. The example’s .example address is reserved for examples and can never be a real website.