Free training · Updated September 2026
Free fraud awareness training
Eight short lessons on how fraud actually works and how to stop it — for yourself, your family, your staff or your volunteers. Free, ad-free, with knowledge checks, a final test and a completion record.
What you get, at no cost
- Eight lessons, roughly an hour in total, stop and resume any time
- Knowledge checks part way through and a ten-question final test
- Unlimited retakes, 70% to pass
- A free completion record with your name, score and date
- Weekly scam alerts by email if you want them
The eight lessons
- How fraud reaches you. Lead lists, breach dumps, ad networks and group chats. Why targeting is usually volume, not personal — and what that means for your defaults.
- The four pressure levers. Urgency, authority, secrecy and reward. Spotting the lever tells you it is a script before you have worked out what the script is.
- Impersonation and voice cloning. Bank, tax office, police, courier, boss and family. Callback verification, safe words, and why caller ID is not evidence.
- Payment methods and reversibility. Which payments can be recovered and which cannot: cards, transfers, gift cards, crypto, cash collection. The single most useful thing to know.
- Investment and crypto fraud. Fake platforms, withdrawal fees, mentor group chats, and how regulator registers are checked properly.
- Invoice and workplace fraud. Payment-diversion emails, compromised supplier mailboxes, urgent-boss requests, and the dual-control habits that stop them.
- Protecting an older relative. Conversations that do not remove independence, alert setups, call filtering, and what to do if money has already gone.
- Reporting and recovery. The first hour after paying, who to report to in your country, evidence to keep, and recognising the recovery scam that follows.
Start a free course now
The fraud awareness lessons above run inside the free GACS courses. Pick the one that fits what you need — both are free, both give a completion record:
- OSINT Fundamentals — verifying people, sites and businesses before you trust them. Eight lessons, quizzes, final test.
- AML Fundamentals — how illicit money moves, and the red flags in payments. Eight lessons, quizzes, final test.
- Browse all free courses
Be careful who you train with
- Never pay for a “free” certificate that asks for card details to release your result.
- Never trust a course claiming government accreditation without naming the accrediting body.
- Be clear about what a credential is worth: awareness training is not a professional certification, and anyone implying otherwise is selling something.
GACS credentials are independent and free, and every one of them is publicly verifiable.
Questions people ask
Is this fraud awareness training really free?
Yes. No payment, no trial, no card details, and no ads. The lessons, the knowledge checks, the final test and the completion record all cost nothing.
How long does it take?
About an hour of reading in total across eight short lessons, plus a ten-question final test. You can stop and resume at any point, and your progress is saved.
Do I get a certificate?
You get a free completion record with your name, score and date, which you can print or share. It is an independent free-course record from GACS.
Is it suitable for staff or volunteer training?
Yes, and it is used that way. It covers invoice and payment-diversion fraud, boss impersonation and pressure tactics, which are the patterns that reach small teams. Each person completes it under their own account so records are individual.
How is this different from paid fraud certifications?
Professional bodies such as the ACFE certify investigators and examiners, with fees, experience requirements and exams. This training is for awareness and defence — recognising and stopping fraud aimed at you, your family or your team — rather than qualifying you to investigate it professionally.
Is there free training for fraud investigation itself?
Yes — the free OSINT and AML fundamentals courses go further into investigation technique, with the same free lessons, quizzes and completion record.
Do you also send alerts about current scams?
Yes, free. Training tells you how fraud works; alerts tell you what is circulating this week. Together they are what actually changes behaviour.
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Related
Authoritative sources
Independent primary sources used to check and corroborate the guidance on this page.
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)Official US channel for reporting internet-enabled fraud and cybercrime.
US Federal Trade Commission — ReportFraudConsumer fraud reporting and published enforcement data.
UK Report FraudUK national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.
Canadian Anti-Fraud CentreCanada's central repository for fraud reports and scam alerts.