Phishing scams: how to spot and report them
How to recognise and report emails, texts, websites, adverts or phone calls that you think are trying to scam you.
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Report a scam text
How to report suspicious text messages, and what to do if you think you’ve responded to a scam text.
Report a text message you think is a scam
Most phone providers are part of a scheme that allows customers to report suspicious text messages for free by forwarding it to 7726. If you forward a text to 7726, your provider can investigate the origin of the text and arrange to block or ban the sender, if it’s found to be malicious.
Read Google’s official advice on reporting spam (external link).
If 7726 doesn’t work, you can find out how to report a text message by contacting your phone provider.
Report a scam text using a screenshot or screen recording
You can also take a screenshot or screen recording of the text message and send it to us at [email protected]
Why you should report suspicious text messages
The purpose of a scam text message is often to get you to click a link. This will take you to a website which criminals use to download viruses to your computer, or steal passwords or other personal information. This is sometimes known as 'phishing'.
Reporting a suspicious text is free and only takes a minute. By reporting, you can:
- reduce the amount of scam texts you receive
- make yourself a harder target for scammers
- protect others from cyber crime online
40.9K
scams removed across 93.3k URLs as of July 2026 as part of the 7726 service.
If you've responded to a scam text message
- Learn how to protect yourself if you think you’ve shared personal information.
- If you’ve visited a website you think is suspicious, you can report a scam website or link to us.
If you’ve lost money or have been hacked as a result of responding to a suspicious phone call, you should report it:
- In England, Wales or Northern Ireland, visit https://www.reportfraud.police.uk/ or call 0300 123 2040.
- In Scotland, report to Police Scotland by calling 101.
Make yourself a harder target
Criminals use information about you that’s available online (including on social media sites) to make their phishing messages more convincing.
You can reduce the likelihood of being phished by thinking about what personal information you (and others) post about you, and by reviewing your privacy settings within your social media accounts.
