Check a scam. Spot a fake. Know where to report it.

1. Where to check and report a scam

Country and region matter. Use the service for your location and the incident type. Fraud reports, police crime reports, platform complaints and consumer disputes are not interchangeable. Resource baseline: 10 October 2026. Report Fraud and GOV.UK phishing routes rechecked 16 October 2026; check current instructions before filing.

United Kingdom

• Report Fraud (England, Wales and Northern Ireland): suspicious messages/sites and crime reports; in Scotland use Police Scotland, non-emergency 101.
• GOV.UK / NCSC phishing reporting: forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk; forward scam texts to 7726 (free). Contains guidance for suspicious sites and adverts.
• FCA Firm Checker and FCA Warning List: check UK financial firms, permissions and warnings; absence from warning list does not prove safety.
• Companies House: verify company registration and filings; registration is not endorsement or proof of trading integrity.

United States

• Federal Trade Commission: ReportFraud for scams, fraud and misleading business practices; FTC Consumer Advice for prevention.
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) for internet-related crime; read the current reporting instructions.

Australia

Scamwatch, National Anti-Scam Centre for suspicious scam reports and safety guidance. Its form is not an official police report; relevant cybercrime cases may also require reporting through police.

Canada

Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre for learning and reporting fraud. Check the page's current reporting methods and follow local police guidance where a crime has occurred.

European Union and cross-border purchases

European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) for certain cross-border consumer disputes. It does not replace police or national cybercrime reporting. Use the appropriate national consumer protection authority or police for suspected crimes.

Elsewhere in the world

There is no universal global fraud-reporting email. Look up your national police cybercrime division, financial regulator or consumer protection agency using its independently verified official domain; ask the selected AI to provide sourced country-specific routes rather than guessing a reporting address.

2. Fake news, fake AI, deepfakes and technical warnings

Five-minute fake-content check

1. Find the original publisher, speaker, developer or recording.
2. Check the event date, location, URL spelling and whether the quote is accurate.
3. Search independent sources and correction notices, not copies of the same claim.
4. For images/video, inspect context, versions, available provenance and reverse search if available. Treat automated AI-detector scores cautiously.
5. For “AI apps”, use the developer's actual website and verified app listing, inspect permissions and privacy terms, and avoid downloads from impersonator domains.

3. Free lessons and useful safety tools

• FTC Consumer Advice: free guides on impersonation, payments and misleading offers.
• Scamwatch: anti-scam warnings, tactics and learning resources.
• FIDO Alliance: passkeys: learn phishing-resistant sign-in methods and when hardware security keys help.
• Fact Check Explorer: practise tracing viral claims back to reputable originals.
• MSRC security advisories: verify whether a claimed Microsoft emergency update or vulnerability is real.

Neither a padlock/HTTPS icon nor a Companies House listing proves that a website is trustworthy. Don't upload private files to unfamiliar “free deepfake detectors” or “scam checkers”.

4. Optional books & useful gifts

These are editorial learning suggestions. No purchases are required to use Trust Check. No affiliate commission is used to rank evidence or recommendations; no prices or retailer stock are claimed.

External books/tools are linked for information only; link owners, publishers and availability may change. No paid partnerships or endorsements are asserted.