Potentially life-ruining scams aren’t just something you see on the news anymore; the risk to each and every one of us is very real, and people are finally realizing it. Whether we’ve been defrauded in some way ourselves, or it has happened to someone close to us, we grow significantly more cautious every time. And when the threats are now disguised in our text and email inboxes in masterfully insidious ways, it can feel impossible to live our lives without being constantly vigilant.

Alec Couros, PhD, director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Regina has a hard-earned piece of advice for anyone living—as most of us do—in a heavily digital world.

“…If you don’t control your digital identity someone else will.”

How does he know? Since 2007 Couros has been receiving messages from those who have been scammed by fraudsters using his likeness. A lot of these are romance scams, but he’s also had victims email university administrators claiming they’ve been scammed as part of fake foreign business deals. This experience has made him extremely cautious about every text and email he receives.

He’s not alone in feeling overwhelmed by fraud risk, and for good reason. March data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shows that more and more money is being lost to fraud, upwards of $12 billion in 2024 and data from Robokiller, a company with an app that blocks spam calls, estimates that 7,431 robotexts were sent per second last month.

As texts, phone calls, and emails become the most popular tools for scammers, defending yourself can feel like needing to be constantly vigilant. Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself and alleviate the associated anxiety.

When You’re Always a Little On Edge

Having to constantly be on the lookout for texts saying “hello, is this Tina?” luring you into a conversation or fake friendship with someone who wants to extort you, or offering you a job that is just a crypto scam in disguise, can have a surprisingly real impact on your mental health.

According to Leigh Turner, PhD, a professor in the Department of Health, Society, and Behavior at University of California, Irvine and head of their Center for Health Ethics, this constant vigilance worsens society’s overall health as people try to figure out whether someone is trying to scam them or legitimately talk to them. She says, “The uncertainty caused by receiving so many scam texts can be confusing and destabilizing.”

Tony Issac, MD, a psychiatrist with Hackensack Meridian Health also says that the weight of always being on guard can deeply affect the way you interact with the world, “One of the more classic symptoms is being quite on guard anytime they need to send any type of correspondence electronically, so it’s emails or on the phone or texting and all that. And a lot of times what you tend to see is a growing sense of distrust anytime they’re engaging with anyone online. ”

Signs Fraud Vigilance Might Be Affecting You

• Fatigue and Lack of Sleep: That worn out feeling you get from juggling too many things in your head can be even worse thanks to the amount of scam texts and calls we’re exposed to. On the other end of the spectrum, the anxiety that comes from worrying about whether you’ve clicked a fraudulent link or given a caller too much private information, can cause you not to sleep as well or as long.
• Irritability: Sometimes you might see irritability as a result of that. That could be a manifestation of the stress and the anxiety that comes from that.” says Issac
• Fight or Flight: A lot of the effects of fraud vigilance stem from the fight-or-flight response, a natural part of human behavior meant to keep us safe, being triggered for too long. If a text from an unknown or blocked number feels like going ten rounds in a boxing ring, it’s going to affect your health.

The Scams You Need to Watch Out For

Many of the most personally and financially damaging scams start out as simple direct messages that then devolve into complex long-games of deceit. Here are some of the most common types to be wary of:

• Romance: Perhaps the type that grabs the most headlines, romance scams attempt to make someone feel as if they are in a relationship with a person in order to extort money or gifts from them.
• Financial: These types of scams—often using phone tools like auto dialers and automated texts—try to pretend they are your financial institution to get access to your banking information.
• Phishing: This sort of scam involves impersonating a legitimate communication, like a text or email, that you are expecting.
• Employment: Social media platforms like LinkedIn are currently filled with posts from fake companies and recruiters. These scams are preying on those who are having a difficult time finding a job in the current economic environment.
• Sextortion: One scam that young people are especially prone to is scams involving intimate images of themselves, with scammers claiming they have compromising photos of a person and that they will be released to the public if a payment isn’t made or other demands aren’t met. These scams prey on young people’s vulnerability and is particularly dangerous in an era where revenge porn is a legitimate concern for many women. In some cases, this form of scam has led to children completing suicide.
• AI: Artificial intelligence isn’t just a silicon valley buzzword with many scammers using AI tools to complete their crimes, including getting an AI tool to replace the live scammer, using a voice changer to make the deception harder to detect, and using AI-focused websites to create fake images of people who simply do not exist.

Is There Anything We Can Do?

At an individual level, Isaac says that it is a good idea to seek help from a medical professional if you or someone you love is beginning to isolate or remove themselves from social interactions due to fear that is being caused by scam tactics like fake texts and robocalls.

However, not all of the solutions are at an individual level. Turner says he believes that it takes a societal response to reduce the severe mental health impacts that come from sustained levels of stress coming from being vigilant about possible fraud, an institutional approach that continues to be hampered by the current Trump administration’s cuts to consumer safeguards at agencies like the Food and Drug Administration. 

“It takes institutions. Laws and regulations aren’t self-enforcing. They don’t self-regulate. They actually need institutions and human beings at those institutions to put them into effect.”

The ability to deal with the amount of scams we are bombarded with is more complicated because most of this fraudulent activity is done by those living outside of the country you live in.

How to Manage the Stress

Scam threats may be constantly present, but there are ways to ease the onslaught of anxiety that they can cause. These tips will hopefully help!

Find a Routine and Resist the Confirmation Bias of Social Media

Issac says one way to manage the stress that comes from these scams is to find a routine that allows your nervous system to settle.

“Let’s say you’re sending an email or something along those lines, [pausing]  just to kind of ground yourself, right? So sometimes people like using meditation, sometimes people like using the five senses technique just to kind of allow themselves to be a little bit more calm and at peace when they’re interacting with people in that form.”

Issac said this can also help disrupt the vicious cycle he sees some people get trapped in where they go on social media—see evidence of people getting scammed—and become ever more vigilant and insular when it comes to digital communication.

Lean Into Personal Connections and Familiarize Yourself with Existing Resources

• Talk to A Tech Savvy Friend or Family Member: Sometimes our fear and anxiety about tools like fake text and phishing emails comes from discomfort with the piece of technology we’re using. Talking to someone close to you who is comfortable with the technology can help you make informed decisions.
• Look at Online Resources: Websites like the Better Business Bureau or looking at a company’s website for signs of legitimacy can help you make informed decisions when responding to these forms of fraud.
• Use Online Tools to Reduce Your Risk: There are a lot of online services that can help you reduce your unintended digital footprint. Some of these services, like Tall Poppy, are used by journalists so that sensitive data is harder for fraudsters to find and exploit. 

Remember to Slow Down and Not Make Assumptions

Turner, whose research focuses on false promises when it comes to stem cell-related treatments, says that it’s important to remember, that just because you’re an expert in one area and know how to suss out fraud does not mean you’re automatically great at identifying another form of a scam.

“I work on stem cell scans, so I’ve learned a bit about that area and can make some meaningful distinctions, but I’m as vulnerable as everyone else when it comes to, you know, people pitching extended warranties and things that I don’t need, but that I’m told that I do need.”

His additional advice to manage the stress is to take a pause.

“If I were to offer a cautionary note or two, one is to pause, to slow things down, to not make quick decisions and make a payment, hand over money, but to delay and gather more  information.”