How to spot scams, and what to do if you encounter one

Scams are on the rise, and the use of advanced technology by bad actors is making it easier than ever for fraudsters to trick people with phony emails, texts and phone calls. In the U.S., more than 21 million people fell victim to fraud last year, and 42% now say they've lost money to scams or had sensitive information obtained and used fraudulently. We're committed to protecting people from scams and ensuring you're safer with Google.

We have a long history of automatically protecting you from scams, including leveraging AI to block over 99.9% of phishing emails in Gmail and stop spam calls. But one of the best lines of defense for stopping scams is knowing what to look for as one-third of online users reported lacking the knowledge to identify scams.

So, building on our tips and tools for avoiding ad scams online, we're sharing our top tips for spotting email, phone, text and web scams, and what to do if you encounter one.