Is This a Scam? — The MoonWake Checklist

Who this is for: everyone. Scams don't pick on the weak — they pick on people having a hard week. If you're job hunting, waiting on benefits, or just getting a lot of strange calls lately, this page is for you.

THE ONE RULE: Real institutions never mind a pause. Your bank, the IRS, Social Security, your employer — none of them will ever get angry because you said "let me call you back on the number I have." Only a scammer needs you to decide in the next five minutes. Urgency IS the scam.

The Numbers Behind This Page

Scams aren't rare, and they aren't small. These are the reported numbers for 2024 — $12.5 billion lost to fraud (FTC) alone. The real total is higher, because most people never report.

$12.5B

reported lost to fraud in 2024 (FTC) — up 25% in one year, nearly five times the 2020 level. Early 2025 figures point past $16B.

$16.6B

counted by the FBI in 2024 — up 33% — across 859,532 complaints.

38%

of people who reported a fraud said they lost money — one in three — up from 27% the year before. More people are losing, not just more reporting.

$9,000

median loss in an investment/crypto scam, and 79% of people who reported one lost money — the "pig butchering" long-con.

850,000

imposter-scam reports — the most common scam: someone pretending to be the government, a bank, tech support, a relative, a love interest.

5×

job scams since 2020 — losses grew from $90 million to over $500 million. The fake recruiter is now mass-scale.

$83,000

average loss for Americans 60+ ($4.9B total in 2024). Crypto scams hit them hardest ($2.8B); crypto-ATM losses nearly doubled.

$285M

stopped by the FBI's Operation Level Up, which reached 4,300 victims mid-scam — 76% had no idea. Knowing the pattern first keeps the money.

You don't need to memorize any of this. You need the eight checks below.

The 8-Point Checklist

Before you send money, share information, or click anything — run these eight checks. If even one fails, stop.

The pause test. Am I being rushed? ("Act now," "within the hour," "your account closes today.") Legitimate business waits. Urgency is the scam.
The code word. If a caller claims to be family in trouble: does the caller know our family code word? Set one this weekend — a phrase only your household knows, never shared in the call being verified. The FBI recommends exactly this. No code word = hang up.
The call-back. If "your bank," "the IRS," or "your boss" is calling: hang up and call back on a number you already have — the one on your card or your company directory. Real institutions never mind.
The payment type. Am I being asked to pay with gift cards, crypto, wire transfer, Zelle to a stranger, or cash by courier? No legitimate organization takes payment that way. Gift cards are for gifts.
The job check. Did this job come from the company's real careers page — or from a text or DM? Never deposit a check from an employer you haven't met, never buy "equipment" to be reimbursed, never share ID or bank details "for payroll" before a signed offer.
The face test. Have I ever seen this person live — a video call where they move and speak, unscripted, for more than 60 seconds? Photos are free to fake now; so are voices (3 seconds of audio makes a clone). A relationship with no live video and no address is a relationship with nobody.
The secrecy test. Am I being told to keep this secret from family? Secrecy is how scammers isolate you. Tell someone. Today.
The wallet test. If crypto is involved: check the wallet address yourself before anything moves. (It takes 5 minutes — how-to below.)

How to Check a Wallet Address (the 5-minute wallet test)

Before you send crypto to anyone — or if someone is pushing you to — you can look the address up yourself on a free block explorer (a public ledger of every crypto transaction ever made). Try mempool.space or blockchain.com/explorer. Paste the address in the search box. Here's what to look at:

How many transactions? A personal wallet might have a handful. A scam operation's collection address has hundreds — money arrives from many different strangers all day long.
Does the money stay? Look at the history. If every deposit moves out within minutes — swept to another address — that is not a person holding savings. That's a collection hub, forwarding cash up the chain.
How much flows through? See the story below for what a real one looked like.
How new is it? A fresh address with instant high volume is a burner made for one purpose.

In October 2026 we checked an address given to a real victim. It had received roughly $32,400 across 60 transactions in a single month, from dozens of different senders — and nothing stayed. Every deposit was swept out within minutes. That's not a wallet. That's a cash register with victims. One search box and five minutes made the whole story fall apart.

If the address looks like a collection hub — many senders, instant sweep-outs, big daily volume — do not send. Screenshot it. Report it (ic3.gov). Block the person.

You don't need to understand blockchain to do this. You need one search box and five minutes.

The Four Scams Running Right Now

1. The cloned-voice family emergency. A call from a "grandchild" — car accident, arrest, bail — with real crying, always insisting on secrecy. Defense: the code word. No code word, no money.

2. The long-con romance ("pig butchering"). Weeks of warm daily messages (the photos and even the messages are AI-generated), then a "guaranteed" crypto platform or a "small favor" for a plane ticket. The person was never real; the money is really gone. Defense: the face test + the wallet test. No live video, no money — ever.

3. The synthetic recruiter. A polished job offer, an AI-filtered "interview," then: deposit this check and forward the balance, or buy equipment to be reimbursed, or share ID/banking "for payroll." Defense: the job check. If you didn't apply on their real site, it's not a job.

4. The perfect phishing message. The typo era is over — AI writes flawless texts about a shipping delay for a package you actually ordered. Defense: don't judge the writing. Judge the urgency and the ask. Go to the official app yourself.

If It Already Happened to You

You're not stupid, you're not alone — one in three people who reported fraud said they lost money, and most never report it.

Stop sending. Cut contact. Block everywhere. Scammers return under new numbers — block those too, without exception.
Report it: ic3.gov (FBI) and reportfraud.ftc.gov. Reports build the cases that stop them.
Call your bank on the number on your card. If money left recently, act fast — a wire still moving can sometimes be stopped.
If your ID or bank info was shared: freeze your credit at all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion — free) and watch your accounts.
Tell someone you trust. Shame is the scammer's best friend. Talking about it takes their best weapon away.

One Last Thing

None of this means living scared. The same AI writing these scams also reads to stroke patients and preserves dying languages — the technology is a tool; the crime is ancient. Trust has to move from what you hear to what you verify. A family that sets a code word this weekend is already ahead of 99% of the country.

Set the code word tonight. Then stop worrying.