Lesson 3 of 4
Track 3 · Lesson 3
Spotting fake messages and emails
Not long ago, scam emails were easy to spot — full of spelling mistakes, strange English, and obvious lies. AI has changed that. Scam messages today can be beautifully written, look exactly like real ones, and come from addresses that seem genuine. Here is what to look for instead.
Scammers have learned to write well. But they cannot hide the patterns. The signals have changed — but they are still there.
The old signals still sometimes work
Some scam messages still have tell-tale signs. Look for these first: the sender's email address does not match the organisation (for example, an email claiming to be from your bank but sent from a Gmail or Yahoo address). There are small errors in the company name or web address — 'Sing-apore Bank' instead of 'Singapore Bank', or 'paypa1.com' with a number instead of a letter. The greeting is generic — 'Dear Customer' instead of your name. The message asks you to click a link urgently.
- Does the sender's email address match the real organisation?
- Is the company name or web address spelled correctly?
- Does it use my real name, or just 'Dear Customer'?
- Is it asking me to act urgently or click a link?
- Did I expect this message, or did it arrive out of nowhere?
Quick check before you click — run through these questions for any message that worries you.
The new signals to watch for
Because AI writes so well now, you need to look beyond grammar and spelling. Here are the signals that AI cannot fix: the message creates urgency or fear ('Your account will be closed in 24 hours'). It asks for something unusual — gift cards, bank transfers, personal details, passwords. It asks you to keep something secret. It offers something too good to be true — a prize, a refund, an inheritance. It asks you to act before checking with anyone else.
If a message asks you to do something with your money or personal details — stop. Do not click, do not call the number in the message, do not reply. Instead, go directly to the organisation's real website or call their official number from your own records.
When you are not sure, test it
If a message worries you and you are not sure whether it is real, you can use Iris or any AI to help you evaluate it. Copy the text of the message (not any links), paste it to Iris, and ask for help. You can also search the exact subject line of the message online — scammers send the same message to millions of people, and there are often warnings about it already.
- Can you help me check if this message looks like a scam: [paste the message text here]
When in doubt, do nothing. Legitimate organisations — banks, government agencies, delivery companies — will never penalise you for taking time to verify.
If something is real and urgent, you can always confirm it through official channels. There is no situation where the right answer is to act immediately on an unexpected message.
Your turn
Practice with Iris
Copy a suspicious message you have received (remove any links first) and ask Iris to help you evaluate it. Or ask Iris to show you examples of common scam phrases to watch for.
Practice with Iris