In case you only received a message (email, SMS, chat app) that might be suspicious, consider the following:

Take a closer look at the message - State institutions, online shops, banks, or delivery services will never ask for your personal or financial information only through online communication. Also, if an offer seems too good to be true (free products or services, significant discounts for expensive products, prize money, etc.) it most likely is a scam.

Note the contents of the message itself - Is the message written logically and grammatically correct? Pay attention to details such as the design of the message and compare it to previous ones from the same sender.

Do not act upon the instructions - Any suspicious message should be marked as spam, deleted, and the sender blocked to prevent further contact.

Examples of phishing emails and text messages can be found in this guide. For additional information on how to analyse suspicious messages, visit the Email analysis section of this toolkit.