Two paths: spotting traps, and being prepared for when something slips through anyway. Each station takes about ten minutes. Start wherever you like. Your progress stays only in this browser — nobody else sees it, not even us.
Short on time? The essentials in ten minutes: six rules with short try-outs.
New since you last practised
- Calls with new voices: the practice calls now speak with our own voices, trained only on freely licensed recordings. In Spanish and Bulgarian, the calls now have sound for the first time.
- Now in Spanish too: Practice makes safe is now also available in Spanish — written for Spain, with its own examples and amounts in euros. The Spanish emergency plan also lists the numbers and places to report for Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and the Dominican Republic, and for anyone living in Germany. You can switch language at the top of the page.
- Now in Bulgarian too: Practice makes safe is now also available in Bulgarian — with Bulgaria's emergency numbers and places to report, its own examples and amounts in euros. Anyone living in Germany will find the German numbers in the Bulgarian emergency plan as well. You can switch language at the top of the page.
- The essentials in ten minutes: short on time? The new page sums up in six rules what matters day to day — in plain English, with a short try-out for each rule. Plus a little game: is it a web page, or a message from your computer? And a card to print.
- Outside the UK? The emergency plan now lists emergency numbers and where to report for Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The emergency card in An emergency drill is filled in for the UK — elsewhere, write in your own numbers.
Time for a quick refresher
Three mixed cases from stations you've already done. Takes just a few minutes — and keeps what you learned fresh.
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.
Going further
Three extra exercises for anyone who wants more: hunt for the warning signs yourself, build a scam email once, and help someone else without making them feel foolish. They don't count towards the record.
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.
After the course
Refresh
What you practise once fades. The course suggests a refresher after a day, a week and a month — you can also start one any time.
Some browsers forget your progress after a while without a visit — Safari on iPhone and iPad after seven days. A calendar reminder still works.
Practice record
A page to print with the stations you've done on both paths. Not a certificate — a reminder, and a good reason to talk about it at home.
Class & family
Practising together works well — at the kitchen table or on a projector in a class.
Security glossary
A word you don't know? The key terms in plain language — with a tip and the way to the matching exercise.
On your home screen and on the go
If you come back for refreshers, you can put Practice makes safe on your home screen as an app. One tap on the icon opens it straight away, in its own window. The app doesn't come from an app store but from this site itself, and it shows the same pages as your browser.
If no button appears, use your browser's menu:
- Android (Chrome): tap More ⋮ to the right of the address bar, then “Install and create shortcut” and “Install”.
- iPhone (Safari): tap “Share”, then “Add to Home Screen”. Leave “Open as Web App” turned on and tap “Add”.
- Computer: a bookmark is enough (Ctrl + D, on a Mac ⌘ + D).
Only install what you opened yourself
This app only installs when you tap the button yourself, on a site you opened yourself. If a site urges you to install its “app” or to add it to your home screen — say after a text, a call or an advert — treat that as a warning sign. In 2024, criminals used exactly this to slip fake banking apps to customers of Czech banks. Only get your banking app from an official store such as Google Play or the Apple App Store.
Without a connection, too
If you like, your browser can keep every page of Practice makes safe on this device, the emergency plan included. They then open without a connection, for example where there's no signal. Only our public pages are stored, nothing about you. Whenever you visit with a connection, your browser fetches the latest version. Only the voices in the phone calls need a connection. If you've installed the app, save from within the app.
In the browser, some delete the copies after a while without a visit — Safari on iPhone and iPad after seven days. In the app on your home screen they stay. On iPhone the app may keep its own storage; your progress then starts afresh there.
For an emergency without a signal or battery, paper helps: the emergency card to print in “An emergency drill”.
Sources (checked 1 October 2026)
ESET, Be careful what you pwish for – Phishing in PWA applications (20 August 2024; fake banking apps spread by text, automated calls and social media adverts) · Stop! Think Fraud (UK Government), Use antivirus software (apps only from official stores) · Google, Use web apps · Apple, Turn a website into an app in Safari on iPhone · WebKit, WebKit Features in Safari 26.0 (15 September 2025; every icon opens as a web app) and Full Third-Party Cookie Blocking and More (24 March 2020; Safari deletes after seven days without a visit, home-screen apps don't).
Your progress
Stored only in this browser's own storage on this device. Deleting it resets all stations.
All companies, people, addresses and numbers in the exercises are invented. Any resemblance to real companies or people would be purely coincidental and unintended.