How we decide what to publish, and how we check it

CyberSupportUSA publishes free guides about online safety, scams and everyday technology. We write for regular people, not for security professionals. Our readers include people managing their own accounts for the first time, people helping an older parent stay safe online, and people who have been targeted by a scam and want to understand what happened.

CyberSupportUSA also sells downloadable resources such as workbooks and checklists. Some are free and some are paid. This policy covers the free articles on this site. The editorial independence section below explains how resource sales and advertising relate to our editorial decisions.

We cover:

• Online scams and fraud, including the common warning signs.
• Identity theft, and what to do if it happens to you.
• Data breaches, and what a breach notice actually means for you.
• Everyday account and device security, such as passwords, two factor login and privacy settings.
• Consumer technology that affects everyday safety and privacy.

We do not cover:

• Enterprise or developer level security topics.
• Paid reviews or recommendations of individual security products.
• Legal, financial or personalized security advice for your specific situation. We are not a law firm, a financial advisor or a security monitoring service, and nothing on this site replaces professional advice.

We choose topics based on three things: what readers ask us through our contact page, what scams and breaches are currently being reported by government and consumer protection sources, and what questions keep coming up in the complaint and trend reports published by agencies like the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission. We prioritize topics that affect the most readers, or that involve a real financial or safety risk.

Every fact, number, and warning in our guides must come from a named, reliable source. We go straight to the source, such as the agency’s own report, instead of trusting a website that describes it.

The main sources we use:

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Where Americans report internet crimes to the FBI. It publishes a yearly report on losses.
• Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The U.S. agency that collects fraud and identity theft reports and shares scam warnings.
• Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). A nonprofit that helps identity theft victims and tracks data breaches.
• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). A U.S. government agency that issues security alerts and safety advice.
• Your state Attorney General. Your state’s consumer protection office, which warns about scams in your area.

What we don’t use. We don’t rely on websites that only repeat other sites’ reporting, or on “top 10” lists with no source. If we link to a statistic, the link goes to the organization that produced it.

If we can’t confirm it, we don’t publish it. If we can’t trace a number back to its original source, it stays out of our guides.

A member of our editorial team researches and drafts each guide. Before it is published, a second member of the team checks every fact, every number and every source link against the primary source it came from. Guides are published under an editorial team byline, because CyberSupportUSA is produced by an editorial team rather than by individual bylined reporters.

Our editorial team uses AI tools to help with research summaries, first drafts and copyediting. AI does not publish anything on its own. Every guide is reviewed, fact checked and approved by a person on our editorial team before it goes live, and that review includes checking that AI assisted drafts match the primary sources cited. We disclose this plainly because readers deserve to know how content is made.

Every guide shows the date it was first published. If we make an important change after that, such as fixing a fact, a number, or our advice, we add a second date that says “Updated” next to the original date. We never change the original date just to make an article look newer.

Small fixes, like a typo or a broken link, don’t get a new date. Important corrections are also listed on our corrections page.

This website makes money from two things: advertising and the sale of our downloadable workbooks and checklists. Neither one decides what topics we cover, what we write, or what we conclude.

When an article mentions one of our own resources, we say so plainly in the text rather than blending it into the advice.

Every ad on this site is marked with the word “Advertisement” and kept separate from our articles. An ad is not our endorsement. We can’t check every company that advertises, so be careful before you click, call, or buy.

We do not run paid or sponsored articles, and we do not accept payment to put a link in a guide. If that ever changes, we will label it clearly as “Sponsored” and update this page first.

We provide general information about online safety, scams, and technology. We can’t look at your accounts, your devices, or your personal situation, and our guides are not legal, financial, or security advice. If you need advice about your own case, please speak with a professional.

If you think you’ve been scammed, here’s what to do. Act quickly. The sooner you act, the more options you have.

• If money or a card number is involved, call your bank or card company right away. For credit and debit card charges, they can often dispute the charge. Money sent by wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency, or a payment app is much harder to get back, but call anyway.
• Report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. This helps investigators track scams.
• If your identity was stolen, go to IdentityTheft.gov for a personal recovery plan.
• For internet crimes, you can also file a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.
• For help or to talk to someone, call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-372-8311.

If you have a question about this policy, or if you think something we published is wrong, outdated or unclear, contact us. Our corrections policy explains what to include and how we handle and log errors.