Lesson 150 · 2 min
Staying calm under pressure: the scam playbook
Nearly every scam follows the same playbook of panic, rush, secrecy and a strange payment, so learning to slow down beats them all.
Scammers do not need you to be foolish. They need you to be scared, excited or ashamed for a few minutes, because strong feelings switch off careful thinking.
The playbook: a shock (your account is locked, your son is hurt, you won a prize), a deadline, an instruction to keep it secret, and a payment method you would not normally use.
Your counter-move is to slow down. Say "I will call you back", end the call, breathe, and check through a number or app you choose. Talk to someone you trust before you pay.
A genuine bank, police officer or relative will accept that you need to check. Anyone who gets angry or pushes harder when you ask for time is giving the scam away.
Do it now
Practise your pause line
- 1. Choose one sentence you will say to any pressure call, like "I will call you back on the official number".
- 2. Say it out loud three times so it comes easily.
- 3. Teach it to one family member this week.
Quick check
Keep going
Next →AI for a café ownerWords from this lesson
- Phishing
- Fake messages that pretend to be someone you trust to trick you into clicking a link, paying or sharing passwords.
- Voice cloning
- Using AI to copy someone's voice from a short recording so it can say anything. Common in phone scams.
- AI literacy
- Knowing enough about how AI works to use it well, spot its mistakes and decide when not to use it.