There’s no question that scams are getting smarter, more sophisticated, and more prevalent. From seemingly innocuous text messages to full video calls with people that don’t even exist, there’s a whole new spectrum of flimflam, bamboozlement, and chicanery to contend with. These tactics are specifically designed to create intense emotional and time pressure, making it hard to recall the right thing to do in the moment. This challenge demands a new approach to scam prevention: going beyond simple scam awareness to build scam resilience.
Which is why we’re excited to announce Google’s recent launch of Be Scam Ready – a free, browser-based game developed in collaboration with Filament Games. Be Scam Ready helps players practice identifying and avoiding common online fraud tactics. The project is part of Google’s global initiative to protect users against scams, alongside new product safeguards and AI-powered detection tools highlighted in their recent blog post.
Be Scam Ready uses a wide range of short, interactive scenarios to show how social-engineering works in real life – think limited time offers, seemingly innocuous requests, impersonations of authority figures, and the like. The game challenges players to move beyond just spotting ‘red flags’ and instead identify the core manipulation techniques that form the building blocks of a scam in a choice and consequence style game. Scenarios are encountered by exploring the stories of four separate characters and their experiences with scams. The game builds confidence through practice, not panic, giving learners a way to fail safely in a sandbox before real scammers ever reach them. A well-practiced player will have the power to encounter and avoid scams in a cool, calm, and collected manner.
Turning awareness into action
Google’s research shows that nearly sixty percent of people worldwide have encountered a scam this year. Education plays a key role in that protection strategy, and Be Scam Ready brings it to life through game-based learning. In a large randomized controlled trial with a prototype version of this game, we saw that users who interacted with a game-based learning intervention were significantly better at identifying scams than those who watched scam awareness campaign videos, even 21 days after their first interaction.
Filament’s design team applied the same set of principles that drives all of our educational game development – concise tutorials, immediate feedback, and reflection after each decision. Players go beyond rote memorization, recognizing the psychological cues behind persuasion and learning how to disengage effectively. The game’s design supports quick individual play or structured classroom use with teacher discussion guides.
Learning by doing
The authenticity of Be Scam Ready is grounded in deep qualitative research, including a systematic study of over 400 victim-survivor stories across eight countries and based on consultations with numerous academics and law enforcement agencies. Players receive prompts that mirror authentic communication styles – a text from a “delivery company,” a video call from a “relative,” or an urgent charity appeal. This design follows the inoculation model described by Google’s Safety Engineering Center: exposing users to small doses of deceptive techniques builds long-term resistance. By pairing that research with Filament’s learning-by-doing framework that transforms learning objectives into game mechanics, we’re turning theoretical knowledge into practiced skill.
Bringing Be Scam Ready to learners
The game runs in-browser with no download or login required, making it accessible on Chromebooks, phones, and desktop computers alike. Educators can integrate it into digital-citizenship lessons, cybersecurity units, or advisory periods in about one class period. That said, it’s not just for classrooms – anyone can play for free at bescamready.withgoogle.com and the experience is available worldwide in multiple languages!
Play it here: https://bescamready.withgoogle.com/intl/en/play
Why it matters
Be Scam Ready demonstrates that cybercrime prevention is both a technical problem and an awareness problem. By combining behavioral science and interactive design, Be Scam Ready gives people the skills to question, verify, and protect themselves in digital spaces. For Filament Games, it’s another example of how purposeful play can make real-world skills stick. If you’re also developing initiatives around digital literacy, consumer safety, or cybersecurity education, we’d love to collaborate.Â
Contact us to explore how game-based learning can turn awareness into action!