# Tell a real message from a fake one

`/learn/digital-skills/tell-a-real-message-from-a-fake-one/` · Digital Skills · Level 0 · **15 minutes** (planned, not yet measured) · Last checked 14 July 2026

> **Draft.** The steps have not yet been performed end to end on a real machine and the time is planned rather than measured. Four of twelve checks outstanding.

**After this you will be able to** check whether a message asking you to do something is genuine, and report it if it is not.

**Skip this if** Skip this if you already check the sender's address and go to the organisation's own website rather than following the link in the message.

The fakes are good now. Spelling mistakes stopped being the giveaway a while ago. What has not changed is the shape: a fake message wants you to do something quickly, using the route it has provided.

*The ones that catch people are not the outlandish ones. They are a parcel delivery text on a day you are expecting a parcel.*

## What you need

- The message in front of you, unopened links and all.
- A way to look up the organisation separately: a browser, or the number on the back of your card.

## The steps

1. Before anything else: notice whether it is asking you to hurry. Suspended accounts, missed deliveries, fines, unpaid fees. Urgency is the mechanism, not a coincidence.
   *You should see:* You should be able to point at the sentence that is trying to make you move fast. Almost every fake has one.
2. Look at the sender's full address, not the display name. On a phone, tap the name to expand it.
   *You should see:* You should see the real address. Look at the part just before the first single slash. That is the actual organisation. Everything before it can say anything.
3. Do not tap the link. Instead, go to the organisation the way you normally would — type the address yourself, use the app, or ring the number on the back of your card.
   *You should see:* You should be able to see whether the thing the message claims is real. If there is a genuine problem, it will be there when you log in normally.
4. If it is fake: forward emails to report@phishing.gov.uk, forward texts to 7726, then delete it.
   *You should see:* You should get an automatic acknowledgement from the email address. 7726 is free on every UK network.

## Try this one first

A text: "Royal Mail: your parcel is held pending a £2.99 fee. Pay here to arrange redelivery: rm-redelivery-uk.com/pay"

Urgency, a small believable amount, and a link. The address is not royalmail.com. The real organisation name sits just before the first single slash, and here it is rm-redelivery-uk.com. Forward to 7726, delete. If you genuinely are expecting a parcel, check in the app you already have.

## If it goes wrong

- **It is from a name you recognise.** Display names are typed by whoever sent the message. The address underneath is the part that is hard to fake. Always expand it.
- **You already clicked the link.** Clicking alone is usually survivable. If you entered a password, change it now on the real site and anywhere else you used the same one. If you entered card details, ring your bank on the number on the card.
- **It looks completely genuine and you cannot tell.** Then use the rule that does not need you to tell: never act through the route the message provided. Go the way you normally go. That works even when the fake is perfect.

## Do today

Take the last message that asked you to do something urgently. Run the four steps. Report it if it fails, and tell one other person what you found.

**Where else this works.** The rule — never act through the route the message provided — works for phone calls, for somebody at the door, and for a message from a friend's account asking for money.

**Covers:** Department for Education — Being safe and legal online, Level 1

## Sources

- Ipsos for Lloyds Banking Group, *Essential Digital Skills 2025*, Fieldwork 5 March – 2 April 2025 — https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/lloyds-essential-digital-skills-2025
- Ofcom, *Adults' Media Use and Attitudes 2026*, 2 April 2026 — https://www.ofcom.org.uk/media-use-and-attitudes/media-habits-adults/adults-media-use-and-attitudes/

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