AI scam texts targeting tradespeople: how to spot them

A text can now sound like a person, not a template. That is what people mean by an AI scam text. The message is still a stranger asking you to tap, pay, or hand over a code. The polish is the danger. A proper sentence is not proof it came from HMRC, your bank, a supplier, or a customer.

Shaun, 20+ years in UK construction, treats any unexpected text about money the same way: he does not pay from the message, and he does not use the number in it to phone them back. We search the AI world every week so you don't have to.

What these texts try to get

They want one of three things. A tap on a link. A payment to a new account. Or a code that lets someone into an account you already have, such as email, Companies House, or the bank.

Trades get the same themes as everyone else, dressed up as the job:

• A fake unpaid toll, parking, or "van tax" charge, with a link.
• A parcel you were not expecting, held until you pay a small fee.
• An HMRC refund or a tax bill, asking you to sign in.
• A supplier telling you the account number has changed, so the next materials payment goes somewhere else.
• A "customer" who says they want a quote, then sends a link to view the plans, or asks you to pay a refundable deposit to "unlock" the lead.
• Your own bank, saying a payment failed, and asking you to read out or type a one-time code.

The last one is worth slowing down for. A code from your bank is for you to type into a login you started. It is not something you read to a caller or type into a page that arrived by text.

Signs that do not depend on spelling

Bad spelling used to be the clue. It is a weak clue now. Look at the situation instead.

• You were not in the middle of this. No parcel due, no toll road that day, no tax letter you were already dealing with.
• The link is a shortened address, or a site that is one letter off a real one.
• They push you to act now, before you have time to look the thing up yourself.
• They ask you to move the conversation off your normal channel. A real customer you already know does not suddenly need a new app.
• A supplier you pay every month has "changed bank details" by text, and the new account name is not their business name.
• The message claims to be your bank and asks for the code that just arrived.

None of these prove a crime on their own. Together they are a reason to stop. A genuine invoice, tax letter, or bank problem can wait while you open the real app or the real website yourself. Type the address. Do not use the link in the text.

What to do in the moment

Do not tap the link. Do not reply. Do not call the number in the message, even if it looks like a UK mobile. If you already tapped, close the page, do not enter a password, and do not approve a login notification you were not expecting.

If a supplier's bank details have changed, phone them on the number you already had on file, not the number in the text. Ask them to confirm the account name and number. Pay the old account until a person you know has confirmed the new one.

If the text is about tax, open HMRC through GOV.UK yourself, or use the Government Gateway sign-in you have used before. A refund does not start with a text that demands your login.

Forward the text to 7726

UK mobile networks let you report a suspicious text by forwarding it to 7726. Report Fraud (opens in a new tab) and the National Cyber Security Centre (opens in a new tab) both describe the same free report.

The steps they publish are straightforward:

1. Note the number the text came from.
2. Forward the message itself to 7726.
3. When you are asked, reply with the sender's number.

On many phones that means pressing and holding the message, choosing forward, and sending it to 7726. Your network can then look at where it came from and block the sender if it is malicious. The report is free.

7726 is for the suspicious message. It is not the place you report that money has already left your account. That is the next section.

You can also report a suspicious website to the NCSC. Their page above explains that route. Use it for the link, after you have forwarded the text.

If you lost money or handed over details

Act on the account first. Phone your bank on the number on the back of your card, or the number in the app you opened yourself. Tell them what left the account, or what login you shared. If you use a separate business account, call that bank too.

Then report the fraud.

The national reporting service for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland is Report Fraud, run for the City of London Police. The older name, Action Fraud, is still what a lot of people search for, and Action Fraud's own pages still tell you to report if you lost money or were hacked. Use Report Fraud (opens in a new tab) or call 0300 123 2040. The NCSC says the same (opens in a new tab): England, Wales, and Northern Ireland go to Report Fraud or that phone number.

If you are in Scotland, Police Scotland have not joined the Report Fraud process. Report it to Police Scotland on 101. Report Fraud's own FAQ says that plainly.

Reporting helps the networks and the police see the same script hitting other people. It does not put the money back by itself. The bank is the call that can.

If you typed a password into the fake page, change that password from a device you trust, and turn on extra sign-in checks where the account allows it. Start with email, because email is how password resets arrive.

A prompt to slow a text down

This does not "detect scams" for you. It makes you write down what the text is asking, which is often enough to see it.

Help me look at a text message before I tap anything. UK English. Do not tell me it is definitely genuine. Do not tell me to pay, to reply, or to open the link.

I will paste the text below. Then list:
1. What it wants me to do.
2. Which claims I can check without using the link or the phone number in the message, and where a UK tradesperson would normally check them (for example the bank's own app, GOV.UK, or a number I already had for that supplier).
3. Any request for a code, a password, a new bank account, or an urgent payment.

If I should report it, say: forward the text to 7726, and if I have lost money, contact my bank and then Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040 (England, Wales, and Northern Ireland) or Police Scotland on 101 (Scotland).

Text:
[paste the text, but delete any code it asked you to use]

Do not paste a one-time code into the chat tool either. Delete it first. A code is a key, even after it expires.

If they are using your business name

Sometimes the scam is not aimed at you. It is aimed at your customer, and it uses your name, your logo, or a job you really did. A customer might text you: "Did you just ask me to pay the balance to this other account?"

Answer that yourself, in your normal thread. This prompt only helps you write the warning. You still send it.

Write a short message I can send to my own customer. UK English. Calm.

Situation: someone else has contacted them pretending to be my business and asking for payment.
- My trading name: [name]
- The real way they should pay me: [for example the account name on the original invoice, or "only the details on the invoice I emailed"]
- I have not changed my bank details: [yes/no. If yes, say how I told them, which must not be "by a surprise text"]

Tell them not to pay the new request. Tell them I will never ask them to ignore the invoice and pay a different personal account. Ask them to forward me the message so I can report it. Do not promise that the police will recover money. Under 120 words.

Then report the fake message to 7726 as well, and tell the customer to do the same. If they already paid, they need their own bank, and Report Fraud or Police Scotland as above. You cannot report their loss for them in a way that fixes it, but you can show them where to go.

A note you can give an apprentice

New starters are often the ones holding the work phone. One plain note is more useful than a lecture. This prompt turns your rules into that note. Change the bits in brackets so it matches how your jobs actually get paid.

Write a one-page note for someone new on a UK building job, about scam texts. UK English. Short lines. No scare stories.

Include only these rules:
- Do not tap links in texts about tolls, parcels, HMRC, the bank, or a customer we do not already know.
- Do not read out or type a login code that arrives by text.
- Never change a supplier's bank details because a text said so. Phone the supplier on the number saved in our records.
- Customer payments go only to the account on our invoice. If a customer says we sent new details, they should check with me first.
- Forward suspicious texts to 7726.
- If money has been sent to a scammer, phone the bank straight away, then Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, phone Police Scotland on 101.

Sign it from [your name]. Do not add extra rules.

The UK Trades AI Prompt Pack is free when you sign up: 25 prompts for quotes, chasing payment, tax admin, and customers. The form is on the home page.