1. Click nothing. To use these prompts, copy the suspicious message's text only, or describe it. Never click its links, never call its numbers, never open its attachments, never reply — not even to check.

2. Cover the numbers. Before pasting or photographing anything, remove or cover account numbers, policy numbers, and anything that identifies you. The machine gets the crossword, not the checkbook.

3. The machine flags; the front door decides. A suspicious audit is a strong warning. A clean audit is reassurance, not clearance. Anything involving your money gets verified through channels YOU find yourself: the number on the back of your card, the official website you typed, the branch you can walk into.

4. Distress calls get the callback rule. Any urgent call from "family," any voice: "I love you, I'm hanging up, and I'm calling you right back" — at the number already in your phone. Real trouble survives ninety seconds. The scam doesn't.