Verify through an independent path
Confirm people, organizations, accounts, listings, and emergencies without using contact information supplied by the claim.
My Action Plan to Avoid Scams
From Federal Trade Commission. Watch here or open it on YouTube .
During the course primer, listen for ideas that change how you approach “Verify through an independent path.” Pause once to capture a useful point, then apply it while producing a five-level verification ladder and completed verification record for three fictional high-pressure scenarios.What this lesson is really solving.
Confirm people, organizations, accounts, listings, and emergencies without using contact information supplied by the claim. This is lesson 2 because later decisions depend on a five-level verification ladder and completed verification record for three fictional high-pressure scenarios. The message cannot authenticate itself. Use your own numbers, files, environment, and constraints so the result survives outside the course.
Understand the idea before touching the steps.
The message cannot authenticate itself.
Follow these steps in order.
Take the action in each step; then use the deliverable below to prove the lesson is finished.
- 1
Pause contact and locate a trusted website, statement, saved number, in-person office, known family contact, or official directory independently.
- 2
Check exact domains, sender addresses, account history, registration, physical location, reviews as weak signals, and whether the claimed event exists.
- 3
For a known person, use a separate channel or prearranged family verification question; treat voices, images, caller ID, and screenshots as forgeable.
See the standard in context.
Morgan hangs up on a bank alert, opens the bank app directly, and calls the number printed on the physical card. The learner saves a five-level verification ladder and completed verification record for three fictional high-pressure scenarios and notes the evidence or assumption behind the choice so it can be reviewed and improved later.
Inspect before you move on.
- The finished work visibly includes a five-level verification ladder and completed verification record for three fictional high-pressure scenarios.
- You tested the work against this common failure: Calling the number in the warning message, clicking its login link, or trusting caller ID, a copied website, or a synthetic voice.
- Another person could verify this mastery standard: Every verification starts outside the suspicious communication and ends with a documented trusted source.
Your deliverable
A five-level verification ladder and completed verification record for three fictional high-pressure scenarios.
Watch for this
Calling the number in the warning message, clicking its login link, or trusting caller ID, a copied website, or a synthetic voice.
Prove it—don’t just recognize it.
Every verification starts outside the suspicious communication and ends with a documented trusted source.
Quick knowledge check
Answer from the lesson—not from confidence alone. Score at least 2 of 3 to unlock completion.
This curriculum-aligned check is scored automatically and stored with your account when signed in. It is an objective learning signal, but it has not yet been independently validated as a standardized assessment.
Tools, templates, and references
Pass the knowledge check above first.
Completion unlocks after a score of 2 out of 3. Then confirm that you produced the lesson deliverable.
Go to the knowledge check