How to report a scam correctly

Step-by-step

1. Take care of yourself first: if you lost money, contact your bank immediately; if credentials were exposed, change them (see what to do after clicking a suspicious link for the full sequence).
2. Save evidence before it disappears — a screenshot of the message, the caller ID, or the page (see our dedicated guide on saving evidence for exactly what to capture).
3. Report it on AlertaSpam — either via the 'Report' button on the relevant phone, domain, or link page, or the general report form. This makes the pattern visible to others researching the same contact; it does not by itself constitute a legal complaint.
4. Report it to your country's official consumer-fraud or cybercrime channel too — only those authorities can pursue legal action, and AlertaSpam is not a substitute for that report.
5. Keep the management link AlertaSpam gives you after submitting — it's the only way to check your report's status or withdraw it later.

What to include

• The channel it arrived through (call, SMS, email, website) and roughly when.
• What was requested (money, a code, login details, personal information).
• Any evidence you saved — a screenshot is far more useful than a description alone.

What not to do

• Don't include your own passwords, full card numbers, or other secrets in the report text or an attached screenshot — AlertaSpam reports are reviewed by a moderator, but there's never a reason for this information to be part of one.
• Don't wait to see if you can 'confirm' the scam yourself before reporting — a report doesn't need to be certain to be useful, and moderation exists precisely to review it.
• Don't assume reporting to AlertaSpam replaces reporting to an official authority if you lost money or data — do both.

Frequently asked questions