New since you last practised
- Screening out nuisance callers: the calls station now shows how you can screen out numbers that keep bothering you — on a FRITZ!Box, an iPhone or an Android phone — and where to report such calls. On a FRITZ!Box they go to the answering machine: your phone stays quiet, and anyone added by mistake can still leave a message.
- No magic: how does a computer actually work? The new house takes you floor by floor from the power in the basement to the AI under the roof — hands-on, with no test. Along the way, some traps lose their power to scare: a sender is only text, and a virus warning in the browser is only painted on the screen. The matching floor also appears at the end of the inbox and pop-ups stations. Only your browser remembers which floors you’ve finished.
- Current warnings: the box on the home page and the course page now says it plainly: you don't need to follow every warning. Scams change, the levers behind them don't — and those are what you practise here.
- More variety in refreshers: the refresher now also brings back pop-ups, phone calls and shopping — cases from exactly the stations that are due. The reminder only appears once you've done the whole course; until then, “Refresher due” sits quietly on the station.
- Current warnings and passing it on: the home page and the course page now have a box linking to sites that regularly warn about real scams — Which? and Report Fraud. At the end of every station you can pass the exercise on: tap the name for someone else, and on a phone the button opens the share menu. Nothing is stored. The page Asking AI for advice now links to a background article on lostcontext.ai.
Your course through the pond
Two paths, each station about ten minutes. Start wherever you like — your progress is kept only in this browser.
Spotting traps
Pop-ups, texts, calls, addresses, emails and online shops: work through the tricks calmly.
Being prepared
What protects you if something does slip through: passwords, a second key, family agreements, devices — and an emergency drill.
Carp tip: The more a message rushes you, the more it pays to check calmly.
How does a computer actually work?
To many people it seems like magic. It isn’t: “No magic” shows step by step how it works — hands-on and without a test. Along the way, some traps lose their power to scare: a sender is only text, and a virus warning in the browser is only painted on the screen.
Current warnings
You don’t need to follow every warning: scams change, the levers behind them don’t — and those are what you practise here.
These sites regularly report the scams going round right now — with real company names and examples:
- Which? scam news — the consumer organisation’s latest scam warnings
- Report Fraud news — warnings from the police’s fraud reporting service for England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Links checked 3 October 2026.
Why practising works
Spelling mistakes hardly give scam messages (“phishing”) away any more, but their levers, such as time pressure or fear, still do — and those who practise spot them better than those who only read warnings.
Carp learn it too
Anglers call it “hook-shy”: a carp that has once been caught bites more cautiously. In 2020, researchers showed that carp also learn this caution just by watching, though it doesn’t last as long. So you don’t have to get hooked to learn — and refreshing helps. (Lovén Wallerius et al., 2020)
Already clicked?
It happens to careful people too — scammers are professionals. What matters now is acting quickly and in the right order.
Practise together
The exercises work well side by side: with parents or grandparents at the kitchen table, or on a projector in a class. A special class mode shows everything larger and keeps no progress on the device.
All companies, people, addresses and numbers in the exercises are invented. Any resemblance to real companies or people would be purely coincidental and unintended.