Urgency and Pressure

Urgency is a technique scammers use to rush you into acting before you have time to think, check details, or ask for help. The message often sounds time-critical: “Act now”, “Final notice”, “Your account will be suspended today”, or “You must pay within 30 minutes”. The goal is to get quick compliance.

Urgency works because it triggers stress and fear, which makes mistakes more likely. Scammers may combine urgency with authority (“This is the ATO”) or scarcity (“Limited spots left”) so you feel you’ll lose something if you don’t respond immediately.

Examples include: a delivery SMS saying your parcel will be returned unless you pay a fee now, a bank alert saying your card will be locked unless you confirm your details immediately, or a workplace email demanding an urgent invoice payment “before close of business”. Another common example is a fake subscription renewal notice that pressures you to click “cancel” quickly.

To protect yourself, slow down on purpose. Treat urgent messages as a warning sign and take a moment to verify independently. Avoid clicking links in urgent messages — go directly to the official app or website. If it involves money, accounts, or personal data, check with a trusted person or your organisation’s usual process before acting.