Seemingly misdirected messages are increasingly the start of a scammer’s ploy.

THE CON: A text message addressed to someone else pops up on your phone. It seems urgent—a rescheduled business meeting, an illness, sometimes even a romantic get-together. (A version circulating in Florida concerned meeting up for a “spicy night,” the state’s attorney general warned.) Since you’re a helpful person, you text back, “Sorry, wrong number!” The scammer—or often an automated chatbot that sends out computer-generated messages—keeps up the friendly texts. They may eventually invite you to join an adult website to see revealing pictures, so you hand over credit card info and money. “Scammers are primarily aiming to find phone numbers where people are willing to engage,” says a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spokesperson. “They might then use that to try to get personal information or sell or reuse the number as a target for another scam.”

PROTECT YOURSELF: Don’t respond to texts from numbers you don’t recognize. Simply delete them. Don’t click on links in them or respond with “STOP” if the messages say you can do this to avoid future messages. Instead, block the phone numbers they come from.

That gift card tucked into a birthday card or thank-you note could be worth zero dollars if scammers siphoned off the value first.

THE CON: Law enforcement agencies warn that nimble-fingered crooks affix fake barcode stickers over the real ones on the back of gift cards in stores. When you purchase the card, the cashier scans the fake barcode at checkout—directing your money into the scammer’s gift card account.

PROTECT YOURSELF: With some gift cards, you can make sure the number of the barcode matches the number on the packaging. Or feel or gently scratch the barcode on a gift card before buying. Don’t purchase if the barcode is on a sticker, or if the package is ripped, wrinkled, bent or looks tampered with, the Better Business Bureau recommends.

Beware if you’ve lost money in a cryptocurrency scam: Phony “refund and recovery” companies might come at you next.

THE CON: Criminals set up fake “get your crypto cash back” websites, including one that looks like it’s from the U.S. Department of State. After luring targets, they contact those who respond by phone, email or social media and ask for personal ID information, including account numbers and passwords, plus an advance fee for their services payable by gift card, cryptocurrency or wire transfer. You get nothing, warns the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

PROTECT YOURSELF: Crypto investments aren’t insured by the government the way bank accounts are. For the most part, funds lost to crypto scammers are gone. Don’t trust anyone who contacts you saying they can get your money back, says Frank McKenna, chief fraud specialist for the fraud detection company Point Predictive.

Crooks on social media promise to make you whole, but only if you make a video for them.

THE CON: After stealing your money in an investment or sweepstakes scheme or taking over your social media account, criminals take the scheme to a whole new level by promising they’ll return your cash or give you back control of your account if you make a testimonial video saying that you’ve made money in the fraud and that it’s real and trustworthy, warns Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center. Crooks post the video on your account that they have taken over to scam others, and you get nothing that was promised.

PROTECT YOURSELF: Refuse demands to make a video, Velasquez recommends. “We tell everyone, ‘You won’t get your account or your money back,’ ” she says. “And it could just further the scam with your friends.”

They claim they’ll show the big game, but instead they steal your money and info.

THE CON: Popularized during the pandemic, streaming services for high school sports let you watch your niece’s or grandson’s latest match from anywhere—often for free via a legit outlet aligned with the school. But scam streaming apps flood social media before events, posting messages about streaming the game; often they mention specifics (such as the names of key student athletes) to build credibility. “Sometimes the athletes resend the messages, not realizing they’re scams,” says Mark Koski, vice president of the NFHS Network, a paid service that streams games from high schools. At game time, you click on the link, enter your credit card number … and never see the action. But now scammers have your money and your personal ID info. Some even put extra charges on your credit card.

PROTECT YOURSELF: Contact the high school before a game and ask how you can stream it, says the Better Business Bureau.

Criminals are finding a low-tech way around two-factor authentication.

THE CON: Let’s say you’ve set up your bank or credit card online accounts so you can access them only with a live code sent from the institution. Then let’s say a criminal has your bank or credit card username and password login and wants to steal from you. What would he or she do? In this increasingly common fraud, they call you, claiming to be from your bank and warning about a problem with your account. The caller tells you they’re emailing or texting you a “onetime passcode” for logging in and asks you to read it back to them for verification. In reality, the scammer’s login attempt triggered your bank to send you the passcode. Handing it over gives fraudsters full access to your account.

PROTECT YOURSELF: Scammers are so good at impersonating helpful bank or credit card company employees that you can’t tell it’s a con, warns Kathy Stokes, AARP’s director of fraud prevention programs. Never give your onetime passcode to anyone who calls you. Hang up, find your institution’s phone number on a bank statement or on your credit card, and call. Ask if there really is a problem and report the con to the bank’s fraud department, McKenna recommends.

Move over, romance scams. AARP is receiving a growing number of complaints about business relationship scams.

THE CON: You get a message on LinkedIn, the popular workplace social media site, from someone who claims to be just starting out in the same industry you’re in, seeking advice from a more experienced colleague. It’s flattering and fun to be a mentor, and your guard is down because you’re in a legitimate professional environment, says Amy Nofziger, AARP’s director of fraud victim support. You get to know each other, and eventually they ask to move your conversation onto a personal device, then lure you into a scam.

PROTECT YOURSELF: A request to continue your chat on a more private channel is a warning. So is talking up crypto. LinkedIn may flag requests to go off-platform as it tries to remove fake accounts. But you should end the conversation and block the scammer.

Is that text, email, phone call or note on your door from a real delivery driver?

THE CON: New package delivery scams include texts and phone calls purportedly from a professional-sounding delivery driver who can’t find your house. Didn’t order anything? They may try to convince you someone’s sent a gift. Or you may receive an email about rescheduling a drop-off or a fake “package delivery attempt” sticker on your front door. Their goal? To get you to provide personal information or simply click on a link they provide. That link then downloads malware that will harvest passwords and account info from your computer or dial a phone number with high per-minute fees.

PROTECT YOURSELF: Contact the seller or delivery service using a verified phone number, the FCC recommends. Don’t use numbers or links provided by potential scammers.

The email says the company is out of stock for the product you ordered. Where’s your refund?

THE CON: Scammers often place fake ads on social media sites for products at too-good-to-be-true prices, take your order and payment info, then tell you the item’s not available right now. Your refund is on the way, they promise, but it never arrives. And you can’t reach anyone at the company about it.

PROTECT YOURSELF: Research businesses online before you buy, and only shop on secure websites with a lock symbol in the browser bar and an internet address that begins with “https.” And pay by credit card, the FTC recommends. That way, you can withhold payment pending an investigation.