Tier 1 Tool — Most Used

Too Good to Be True
Calculator

Describe any offer, deal, job, investment, or opportunity. Our AI scores it on a scam probability scale of 1–10 — with a plain-English explanation of exactly why.

scamanot.com — too good to be true calculator

Quick examples — click to try:

Works with job offers, investments, prizes, deals, giveaways, and any opportunity.

🔒 Your description is never stored, logged, or shared. It is discarded immediately after your score is returned. Scores are for informational purposes only. Scamanot does not guarantee the accuracy of its findings and is not liable for financial decisions made based on this tool's output.

Description never stored
AI runs server-side only
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The Framework

10 questions every offer must answer.

Our AI applies a structured scoring framework developed from FTC fraud data and known scam patterns. Here's what it's looking for.

1
Is the return or reward disproportionate to the effort or investment?

Legitimate opportunities pay market rates. "$5,000/week working 2 hours from home" defies economic reality.

2
Were you contacted unsolicited?

Real employers recruit through established channels. Winning a prize you didn't enter is impossible.

3
Is there artificial urgency?

"Offer expires in 24 hours" is designed to prevent you from doing due diligence. Legitimate deals survive scrutiny.

4
Are you required to pay to receive?

Upfront fees to claim prizes, receive loans, or start jobs are classic advance-fee fraud patterns.

5
Can the company or person be independently verified?

Legitimate businesses have verifiable addresses, phone numbers, licensing, and public histories.

6
Is payment requested in an unusual form?

Gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, or Zelle are irreversible. Scammers know this — legitimate businesses don't require them.

7
Does it require personal or financial information upfront?

Social security numbers, bank account details, or passwords requested before any relationship is established.

8
Does the offer promise guaranteed returns?

No legitimate investment guarantees returns. "Guaranteed 200% in 30 days" is mathematically a lie.

9
Are there secrecy or isolation elements?

"Don't tell your family." "This is a private opportunity." Scammers isolate victims from people who would warn them.

10
Does your gut say something is off?

Experienced fraud investigators take gut instinct seriously. If something feels wrong, it usually is. That instinct brought you here.

Real Patterns, Real Losses

The offers that fool the most people.

These are not hypotheticals. These are the scam templates responsible for billions in losses every year.

Advance Fee
The Nigerian Prince

"I have $15 million trapped overseas. Help me transfer it and keep 30%. I just need your banking details and a small processing fee."

Still active in 2026. Victims lose an average of $2,000 before realizing. The "fee" escalates indefinitely.

Investment Fraud
The Crypto Guarantee

"Our AI trading bot generates 15% monthly returns. Guaranteed. Minimum investment $500 — withdraw anytime."

No algorithm guarantees returns. Withdrawals are blocked once funds are deposited. FTC reported $1.4B in crypto fraud losses in 2023.

Employment Scam
The Work From Home Job

"Hiring remote package handlers — $25/hr, flexible hours, no experience needed. Just buy our starter kit ($150) to get started."

The "starter kit" is the scam. No job exists. Reported losses to fake job offers exceeded $367M in 2022.

Prize Scam
The Free iPhone

"Congratulations! You've been selected to receive a free iPhone 15. Just pay $9.99 shipping and handling to claim your prize."

The credit card info captured for "shipping" is used for unauthorized charges. No phone arrives.

Government Imposter
The Secret Grant

"You qualify for a $9,000 government stimulus grant. It's free money — just pay a $200 processing fee and provide your bank account for deposit."

The government never charges fees to receive grants. Your banking information is used to drain your account.

Romance Scam
The Emergency Wire

"I'm stuck overseas on a work contract. There was an emergency — I just need $2,000 wired to get home and I'll pay you back double when I arrive."

The FBI reports romance scams cost Americans $1.3B in 2022. The "person" is fictional. They will never arrive.

Common Questions

Before you score that offer.

The score is 1–10. 1–3 means the offer shows few or no scam indicators. 4–6 means there are concerning elements worth investigating before proceeding. 7–10 means multiple high-confidence scam patterns are present — walk away. The score is a framework, not a guarantee.
It happens — some legitimate opportunities use language or structures that share surface similarities with scams. A high score is a prompt to investigate further, not a definitive verdict. Read the explanation our AI provides — it will tell you specifically what triggered the score. If you can verify those concerns independently, you may be fine.
No. Describe the offer in general terms — the promised return, how you were contacted, what they're asking for. You don't need to include specific account numbers, your name, or any personal identifying information. The AI scores the pattern of the offer, not your personal financial situation.
No on both counts. Per our Security Policy Framework §3.1, no user inputs are stored in our database. Your description is processed through the AI and discarded immediately. We do not retain, sell, or use your submissions for any purpose beyond generating your result.
The clearest signal that an offer is a scam rather than a genuine deal is the combination of disproportionate reward and artificial urgency — when someone promises unusually high returns, prizes, or pay with pressure to decide immediately. Legitimate opportunities survive scrutiny and don't require you to act before you can verify. Scamanot's Too Good to Be True Calculator scores any offer on a 1–10 scam probability scale, applying a 10-point framework built from FTC fraud data — describe the offer in plain language and get an instant verdict with a specific explanation of what triggered the score.
The five most reliable warning signs of a fraudulent investment are: guaranteed returns (no legitimate investment can guarantee outcomes), pressure to invest quickly before the opportunity "closes," requests for payment via wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or gift cards, inability to independently verify the company or person offering the opportunity, and instructions to keep the investment private from family or advisors. The FTC reported over $10 billion in fraud losses in 2023, with investment scams accounting for the largest share. If an opportunity shows even two of these signs, run it through Scamanot's Too Good to Be True Calculator before proceeding.
An unusually high pay rate for low-effort remote work is one of the most consistent markers of a fraudulent job offer. Legitimate employers pay market rates — when a posting promises $5,000 per week for a few hours of work, the economics simply don't hold up. The most common version of this scam involves an upfront equipment or starter kit fee, which is the actual theft — no job ever materializes. If a job offer made you pause, describe it in Scamanot's Too Good to Be True Calculator or run it through the dedicated Job Offer Checker for a more detailed analysis.
No — winning a prize, lottery, or giveaway you never entered is mathematically impossible and always a scam. This includes notifications that you've been "randomly selected," that you're a "special winner," or that a company chose you from a database. The purpose of these messages is either to capture your payment card details through a fake "shipping fee," to collect personal information for identity theft, or both. If you receive an unsolicited prize notification, paste the message into Scamanot's Scam Text Analyzer or score it in the Too Good to Be True Calculator before responding.
Scammers specifically request gift cards, wire transfers, and cryptocurrency because these payment methods are effectively irreversible — once the money is sent, it cannot be recovered. Unlike credit card transactions or bank transfers between verified accounts, these methods leave victims with no recourse. The IRS, Social Security Administration, legitimate employers, and real prize organizations never request payment in these forms under any circumstances. Any situation where you're being asked to pay via gift card should be treated as a scam regardless of how convincing the surrounding story is.
Advance fee fraud is a category of scam where victims are promised a large reward — inheritance, lottery winnings, a business deal, a loan — in exchange for paying a series of upfront fees to "release" or "process" the funds. Each fee is followed by another, and the promised payout never arrives. The pattern dates back decades but remains one of the most financially damaging scam types in 2026 because the promised reward is designed to be large enough to justify the fees in the victim's mind. The FTC consistently reports average losses of $2,000 or more per victim. If someone is asking you to pay to receive money, it is a scam without exception.

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