A couple of weeks ago I received a call from someone purporting to be from the fraud prevention department at my bank. I played along with him for a few minutes, acting like I misunderstood his questions, until I finally pretended to speak to someone in the room with me. “This is the call I want to make sure the FBI is tracing.”

Click. My would-be scammer hung up immediately.

If scammers would channel their creativity and enthusiasm into worthwhile endeavors, there is no telling how many problems they could solve – and almost certainly be paid handsomely and legitimately for their work. In just the past couple of months I’ve received emails from two different friends who needed me to send gift cards to a relative who was in some sort of distress. Another friend, a well-known Knoxville attorney, announced on Facebook that he was liquidating a relative’s estate, including a list of items for sale—most at incredible bargain prices. But because he was traveling in Europe, he couldn’t take phone calls to discuss the sale, but if anyone was interested in an item, he would accept a refundable deposit and hold the item until he returned.

Also fake.

My wife recently received a very convincing-looking fake cashier’s check for something she was selling online. Several times a week I receive a text message about a delivery, my (non-existent) student loan, or an unpaid medical bill, all of which encourage me to tap on a link.

Never, ever tap on the link.

Unlike the days of the quaint Nigerian prince email scam, texting is the bad actor’s tool of choice these days. Fake package delivery notifications, unpaid toll alerts, and bank/credit card account texts are common. Scammers still rely on email to target businesses, often with fake invoices that appear to come from legitimate vendors of the target. If an Instagram or Facebook ad offers an incredible bargain, it is likely fake.

One of the newest scam techniques is called quishing: the use of QR codes that, when scanned, lead to credential-harvesting sites.

Don’t assume that you are too intelligent or well-educated to fall for one of these scams. Studies repeatedly find that highly educated people are surprisingly likely to be scammed, often because they are overconfident in their ability to identify a fraud.

Here are a handful of common-sense reminders: Never click on an unknown link, especially if it is a shortened, TinyURL. Voice verify any requests you receive to send money to a sick or incarcerated friend of a friend. Don’t give anyone an account number, password, or other personal information via email or text message. If you get a collection email or text message that appears to be from the IRS, it isn’t. They only use physical mail for official notices.

David Moon is president of Moon Capital Management. A version of this piece originally appeared in the USA TODAY NETWORK.