Every phone scam falls into a handful of repeatable patterns. Fraudsters retool the script, the voice, the urgency hook — but the underlying mechanics stay the same. Recognize the pattern once and you recognize it forever. Below is a reference to the major scam types that make up over 95% of reported phone fraud per FTC, IC3, and FBI data (2023-2025).

Each page breaks down how the scam works step-by-step, the warning signs you can catch in the first minute, what to do if you've been targeted, and which country codes are most frequently associated with active campaigns. Scams rotate country codes constantly (today Cambodia, tomorrow Nigeria) — the pattern is what you defend against, not the origin.