How we check scams and test products

We don't guess, and we don't repeat rumors. Every verdict starts with the public bodies that record and investigate scams. When they publish a warning, a complaint pattern, or guidance, we cite it and link to it so you can read the original.

We check, at minimum:

• FTC — the Federal Trade Commission, for consumer alerts and reported scam trends.
• FBI IC3 — the Internet Crime Complaint Center, for online fraud reports and annual data.
• CFPB — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for banking, payment, and debt scams.
• USPS and USPIS — the Postal Service and its inspectors, for mail and package delivery scams.
• State agencies — your state attorney general and consumer protection office, since rules and active scams vary by state.

If the agencies disagree or a claim isn't documented anywhere reliable, we say so plainly instead of inventing certainty. See what we've checked in scams.

A verdict is our plain-language read of the evidence, not a sales pitch. For any scam or product, we work through the same steps:

1. Gather the reports. We pull warnings and complaint data from the sources above.
2. Match the pattern. We compare what you're seeing to known scam tactics — the wording, the urgency, the payment method, the way contact starts.
3. Weigh the evidence. We separate what's confirmed by an agency from what's anecdotal, and we tell you which is which.
4. Write it down. We give you a clear answer, the reasoning behind it, and the safest next step.

When we're confident, we say so. When the picture is mixed, we'd rather tell you it's mixed than round up to a false yes or no. You can act on a clear answer; you can't act on a guess dressed up as one. Our protect guides cover the next steps once you know what you're dealing with.

Scams change. A phone number gets shut down, a fake website moves, a new variation appears. A page that was right last year can be wrong today, so we treat freshness as part of being accurate.

• Every page shows a date. You'll see when we last checked it, not just when we first wrote it.
• We re-verify on a schedule. We revisit our most-read scam pages regularly and re-check them against current agency reports.
• We update when the facts move. If a scam evolves or an agency issues new guidance, we change the page and update the date.
• We mark what we couldn't confirm. If something is still developing or unverified, the page says so.

If a page looks stale or you've seen a newer version of a scam, tell us — reader reports help us catch changes faster.

What we publish is decided by our editorial team, full stop. No advertiser, partner, or company pays to change a verdict, soften a warning, or get a better rank.

• No pay-to-play. A company can't buy a recommendation or a higher position. There's no rate card for our opinion.
• One standard for everyone. We judge a product the same way whether or not it could earn us a commission.
• We'll name the downside. If a product we link to has real weaknesses, we say so. A recommendation with no caveats isn't honest.
• We correct ourselves. When we get something wrong, we fix the page and note what changed.

The whole point of this site is to be the source you trust when you're scared. That only works if we tell you the truth even when it costs us.

We need to keep the lights on, and we do it through affiliate links. When you buy a product through some of our links, we may earn a commission. It costs you nothing extra, and here's the part that matters: it never affects our rankings or verdicts.

• Earning has no say in the ranking. We pick and order products on merit. The commission, if any, is decided afterward and changes nothing about the order.
• We recommend things we'd tell a friend to use. If the best option for you doesn't pay us a cent, that's still the one we'll point you to.
• We disclose the relationship. Where we use affiliate links, we tell you.
• You're never the product. We don't sell your data, and we don't push purchases you don't need.

If money ever pulled against telling you the truth, the truth wins. That's the only way a scam-awareness site is worth reading.