Ten questions on phishing emails, smishing texts, fake sign-in pages and look-alike brands. Every answer explains the signal to look for. Want real-looking emails instead? Try the phishing test.
Phishing (sometimes searched as “fishing”) is when someone pretends to be a company or person you trust to get your password, a one-time code, card details or a payment. It arrives by email, text (smishing), phone (vishing), QR code, or a fake sign-in page. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 191,561 phishing complaints in 2025.
This quiz checks what you know. The phishing test shows you realistic emails, texts and sign-in pages: you tap the sender and links to inspect them, decide “scam or legit”, and see every red flag explained.
Step-by-step guides to the scams in this collection: In Painted Sky, a free game, you live one life and meet these scams as they happen — then replay it with a lens that shows what was fake.
Check who really sent it (the domain after the @), where the links really go, and what the email asks you to do. Urgency, a login request, a payment or a changed bank detail are the strongest signals.
No. The padlock only means the connection is encrypted. Most phishing sites have one. Read the domain instead: the part right before the first single “/”.
Phishing usually means email; smishing is the same trick by text message; vishing is by voice call. The goal is the same: your login, a code or a payment.
Yes. For a workplace version that also covers CEO fraud, fake invoices and help-desk scams, try the cyber security awareness quiz.
Yes, free and without sign-up. Scores stay in your browser.