The Anatomy of a Scam: How to Recognize and Stop the 30 Frauds Targeting Your Money Right Now
A practical field guide for spotting modern financial fraud — and the four psychological levers every scammer pulls.
By Ron A. Rhoades, JD, CFP® and Chris Brown, Ph.D., CFP®
Important Disclosure
This guide is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or investment advice, nor as a recommendation to implement any specific strategy, product, or investment. Consult with a qualified financial professional before making investment decisions.
The call comes at the worst possible moment. A calm, professional voice says your account has been compromised — and that only you can stop the thief, right now, if you’ll just confirm a code. Your heart races. You act. And in those ninety seconds, you become one of the millions of Americans who lost money to fraud this year.
Here is the uncomfortable truth: falling for a scam has almost nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with engineering. Today’s fraud is built by professionals who use artificial intelligence, voice cloning, and decades of behavioral psychology to bypass your judgment before it can engage. The good news is that engineered attacks have recognizable blueprints. Once you can see the machinery, you can stop it.
This guide walks through the 30 most common frauds reaching American consumers today, grouped by where they strike. For each, we show exactly how it works, what it looks like in real life, and the single red flag that gives it away. But first, the numbers — because the scale of what’s happening is the reason this matters now.
Fraud is Rising — Fast
This is not a static threat. Reported losses are climbing at a pace that would have seemed implausible only a few years ago:
- $15.9 billion in fraud losses were reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2025 across 3 million reports1 — up from $12.5 billion the year before.2
- $20.9 billion in losses were reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2025 — the federal government’s clearinghouse where the public reports online crime.3 That is up from more than $16 billion in 2024, which was itself a 33% increase over 2023.5
- More than half of those losses — over $11 billion — involved cryptocurrency, the scammer’s payment rail of choice.4
- For the first time in its roughly 25-year history, the FBI’s report added a dedicated section on artificial intelligence, tied to 22,364 complaints and nearly $893 million in losses as voice clones and deepfakes go mainstream.3
- Older Americans are hit hardest: adults 60 and over reported about $7.7 billion in losses in 2025, up 37% from the prior year.3 Reports from older adults who lost $10,000 or more to impersonation scams have more than quadrupled since 2020.6
- Investment scams are the costliest category by total dollars — $7.9 billion reported to the FTC in 2025, with a median individual loss above $10,000.8 Imposter scams remain the most frequently reported fraud for the ninth year running, lately fueled by fake “unpaid toll” texts that drove a 40% jump in government-impersonation reports.7
In other words: more victims, larger losses, and smarter tools. The defense must get smarter, too — and that starts with understanding why scams work at all.
Why Scams Work: The Four Psychological Levers
Strip away the technology and nearly every one of the 30 frauds below runs on the same four levers. Scammers don’t hack your accounts so much as they hack your decision-making. Learn the levers and you’ll feel them being pulled — which is exactly the moment to stop.
- Urgency. “Act now or lose everything.” Manufactured time pressure — a closing wire, an account about to be drained, a prize about to expire — is designed to push you past the point where you’d normally pause and verify.
- Authority. A badge, a bank logo, a government title. Impersonating a trusted institution short-circuits skepticism, because most of us are trained to comply with authority.
- Isolation. “Don’t tell anyone — they might be in on it.” Scammers work hard to keep you off the phone with family, your advisor, or your bank, because a single outside voice usually breaks the spell.
- Fear. Arrest, a frozen account, a grandchild in jail. Fear floods the body with stress hormones that suppress careful thinking — and a frightened person will do things a calm one never would.
Start with the Foundation
Before the catalog of scams, make sure your basic defenses are in place. We covered the essential, do-this-first protections — strong unique passwords, multi-factor authentication, account alerts, and safe payment habits — in an earlier guide on our site. If you haven’t read it, start there:
The 30 scams below build on that foundation by training the one defense technology can’t replace: a well-tuned sense of when something is wrong.
Surging Right Now
A handful of frauds have exploded in just the past several months. Watch for these in particular:
- Toll and DMV “unpaid fee” texts. Fake messages claiming you owe a small toll or registration fee helped drive a 40% rise in government-impersonation reports in 2025 (see #19).7
- Task scams. “Get paid to like videos” job offers that flip into demands for your money. The FTC reports that job and employment-agency scam reports tripled from 2020 to 2024, with losses rising from $90 million to $501 million2; the gamified “task” variant is the newest twist (see #26).10
- Brushing scams. Unordered packages arriving at your door can mean a seller is using your real name and address to post fake “verified” reviews — a sign your personal data is circulating.9 Check your accounts if it happens.
- AI voice clones & deepfakes. Convincingly human-sounding “family emergency” and “executive” calls built from seconds of public audio (see #21 and #22).3
The 30 Most Common Frauds Today
Each entry below lists the mechanism, a realistic scenario, the single red flag that exposes it, and which psychological levers it relies on.
Category 1 — Account Takeover & Banking/Brokerage Theft
Direct theft from your checking, savings, or brokerage accounts.
1. Bank Impersonation & One-Time-Passcode (OTP) Bypass
A spoofed text warns of a “fraudulent charge.” When you respond, a polished “fraud analyst” calls and asks you to read back the verification code just sent to your phone — the very code they need to reset your password or push a wire out of your account.
David got a text asking if he authorized a $1,200 charge. He replied “NO,” a calm “representative” called within seconds, and David read aloud the code that drained his savings.
Red flag: Your bank will never call and ask you to read back a code it just sent you.
Levers pulled: Urgency, Authority, Fear
2. Brokerage Account Hijacking via Credential Stuffing
Criminals run millions of leaked username/password pairs from old, unrelated breaches against brokerage logins. Reused passwords let them in, where they change the linked bank, liquidate positions, and ACH the proceeds out.
Sarah used her grocery-app password for her retirement account. When the app was breached, hackers logged in, sold $45,000 in funds, and wired it away before she saw the confirmations.
Red flag: If you reuse passwords, assume at least one is already for sale on the dark web.
Levers pulled: Isolation (no human contact until it’s done)
3. Check Washing & Mail Theft
Thieves fish checks out of home and USPS mailboxes, dissolve the ink with common chemicals while preserving your signature, and rewrite the payee and amount.
James dropped a $150 utility check in a blue box. A crew emptied it, “washed” it, and cashed it for $7,500 by morning.
Red flag: Mailed paper checks are a top theft target — use a post-office slot or pay electronically.
Levers pulled: Isolation
4. Wire Transfer Diversion (Real Estate & Escrow Phishing)
Scammers monitor a hacked agent, title-company, or attorney email account and, days before closing, send the buyer “updated” wire instructions routing the down payment to their account.
Three days from closing, Linda got an email matching her agent’s thread about a “new banking partner.” She wired $65,000 — gone overseas within hours.
Red flag: Never trust emailed wire changes; call the closing office at a number you already had.
Levers pulled: Authority, Urgency
5. Remote-Access “Tech Support” Scams
A fake Microsoft/Apple pop-up locks your browser and tells you to call a “support” line. The technician has you install remote-control software, then blanks your screen and empties your accounts.
Robert called the helpline on his frozen screen, installed a “diagnostic” app, and watched nothing while $12,000 moved into a crypto wallet.
Red flag: Real tech companies never put a phone number in a pop-up or ask for remote access.
Levers pulled: Fear, Authority
6. Unauthorized ACH Debits
With your checking and routing numbers (from a stolen check or phishing form), fraudsters set up small recurring auto-debits, betting you won’t scrutinize every line of your statement.
Karen glanced only at her balance for six months before noticing a $189 monthly debit she never authorized.
Red flag: Reconcile every line of your statement — small recurring charges are designed to hide.
Levers pulled: Isolation
7. Overpayment & Refund Scams
A “buyer” or “employer” sends a check for more than owed and asks you to deposit it and wire back the difference. Days later the check bounces and you owe the bank.
Mark sold a $500 bike, got a $2,500 “accidental” cashier’s check, wired back $2,000 — then learned the check was fake.
Red flag: Anyone who overpays and wants the difference back is running a scam.
Levers pulled: Urgency, Trust
Category 2 — Credit Card & Payment Fraud
Exploiting your cards, payment rails, and retail transactions.
8. Card Skimming & Shimming (ATMs and Gas Pumps)
Hidden overlay readers — or thin “shimmers” inside the chip slot — capture your card data, often paired with a pinhole camera to grab your PIN.
Amanda paid at a dim, older pump; weeks later her cloned card was draining an ATM three states away.
Red flag: Tug the reader, prefer tap-to-pay, and use pumps in view of the cashier.
Levers pulled: Isolation
9. New-Account (Application) Fraud
Using your SSN, name, and birthdate from dark-web dumps, thieves open new credit cards or loans and route the cards to an address they control.
Brian was denied a car loan and discovered four maxed-out store cards opened in his name nine months earlier.
Red flag: A surprise credit denial or unfamiliar inquiry is often the first sign — freeze your credit.
Levers pulled: Isolation
10. Card Testing (“Carding”) & Micro-Charges
Bots run tiny $1–$3 test charges to confirm a stolen card number is live before selling it for big purchases.
Megan ignored a $1.14 charge; three days later her card bought a $2,400 laptop.
Red flag: A tiny charge you don’t recognize is a test run — report it immediately.
Levers pulled: Isolation
11. “Friendly” & Familial Card Fraud
Someone with physical access — a relative, caregiver, or houseguest — memorizes your card details and makes purchases without permission.
Retiree Arthur reported mystery gaming charges; the bank traced them to the grandson who’d set up his tablet.
Red flag: Guard cards and devices even at home; enable purchase alerts for every transaction.
Levers pulled: Trust, Isolation
12. SIM-Swapping Account Takeover
Scammers impersonate you to your mobile carrier and port your number to their SIM, then intercept the SMS codes that protect your bank and card accounts.
Elena’s phone dropped to “SOS only.” While she assumed an outage, a thief was resetting her passwords with her own texts.
Red flag: Sudden, unexplained loss of cell service can mean a SIM swap — call your carrier from another phone.
Levers pulled: Isolation, Authority
Category 3 — Identity Theft & Government Document Fraud
Stealing the identifiers that define you, to exploit credit and public programs.
13. Tax-Refund Identity Theft
A thief files a fraudulent return with your SSN early in the season and collects the refund before you file.
Thomas’s February e-file was rejected — a criminal had already claimed a $4,200 refund in his name.
Red flag: File early and request an IRS Identity Protection PIN.
Levers pulled: Isolation
14. Synthetic Identity Fraud
Fraudsters combine a real (often a child’s or deceased person’s) SSN with a fake name and birthdate, build credit for years, then “bust out” with large loans and vanish.
A file for “Johnathan Doe” was built on an 8-year-old’s SSN, then used for $50,000 in loans before disappearing.
Red flag: Freeze your children’s credit — their unused SSNs are prime targets.
Levers pulled: Isolation
15. Medical Identity Theft
A thief uses your name, SSN, and insurance numbers to obtain care or drugs, corrupting your medical record and saddling you with the bills.
Nancy got collection notices for a $22,000 spinal surgery at a hospital she’d never visited.
Red flag: Read every “Explanation of Benefits” — unfamiliar care is a warning sign.
Levers pulled: Isolation
16. Student-Loan “Forgiveness” Scams
Riding the headlines on loan forgiveness, scammers pose as Department of Education partners and charge upfront fees to enroll you in programs that don’t exist.
Chloe paid a $600 “processing fee” and handed over her federal-aid login to a “Student Enrollment Care Center” — her loans were never touched.
Red flag: Federal loan relief is always free; never pay a fee or share your FSA ID.
Levers pulled: Authority, Urgency
17. Unemployment & Benefits Fraud
Using breached personal data, criminals file for state unemployment benefits in your name and collect the funds.
Marcus, working full-time, was called in by HR to explain an unemployment claim he never filed.
Red flag: Any benefits notice you didn’t initiate means your identity is in play — report it.
Levers pulled: Isolation
18. Change-of-Address Mail Diversion
A forged USPS change-of-address form reroutes your mail — statements, new cards, tax forms — to an address the thief controls.
Patricia’s mail stopped for a week; someone had diverted it across town to harvest her account data.
Red flag: A sudden mail gap warrants a call to USPS and your bank; sign up for Informed Delivery.
Levers pulled: Isolation
Category 4 — Impersonation & Social Engineering
Using authority, emotion, and pressure to make you hand over money voluntarily.
19. Government Imposter Scams — SSA, IRS & the Toll/DMV Text Surge
Calls or texts claim your SSN is tied to a crime, you owe back taxes, or — the fastest-growing version — you owe a small unpaid toll or DMV fee, and demand instant payment or gift cards to avoid arrest or suspension.7
Gary wired $9,000 in gift cards after a “federal agent” said his SSN was flagged for money laundering. Millions more now get texts demanding $6.99 for a “unpaid toll.”
Red flag: Government agencies don’t demand gift cards, crypto, or instant payment by text — and toll texts are almost always fake.
Levers pulled: Authority, Fear, Urgency
20. Pig-Butchering & Crypto Romance/Investment Scams
After a “wrong number” text or dating-app match, a scammer builds trust over weeks or months, then steers you into a fake crypto or forex platform that locks up when you try to withdraw.
Rebecca answered a “wrong number” text, befriended the sender, and was guided into a fabricated crypto app where her life savings vanished.
Red flag: Anyone you’ve never met in person who introduces you to an investment platform is a scammer.
Levers pulled: Trust, Isolation
21. AI Voice-Cloning “Grandparent” / Emergency Scams
Using seconds of audio from social media, criminals clone a loved one’s voice and call in a panic — an accident, an arrest — demanding immediate cash or a wire.3
Evelyn rushed to wire $5,000 “bail” after a voice identical to her grandson’s called from “jail.”
Red flag: Hang up and call the person back directly; agree on a family code word in advance.
Levers pulled: Fear, Urgency, Isolation
22. Business Email Compromise (BEC) & Vendor Fraud
Scammers spoof or hijack an executive’s or supplier’s email and send “updated” payment instructions to accounting.
A clerk paid an $85,000 invoice to “new” bank details after the steel supplier’s email was spoofed.
Red flag: Verify any change in payment details by phone, using a known number, before sending.
Levers pulled: Authority, Urgency
23. Utility Shut-Off Threats
A caller claiming to be your electric, gas, or water company says service will be cut within the hour unless you pay immediately by prepaid card or app.
During the Friday rush, a restaurant owner bought $1,500 in gift cards to stop a “shutoff” that was never real.
Red flag: Utilities don’t demand instant gift-card payment; hang up and call the number on your bill.
Levers pulled: Fear, Urgency, Authority
24. Charity & Disaster Exploitation
After a disaster or tragedy, fraudsters spin up fake charities, crowdfunding pages, and spoofed sites to siphon donations.
After a tornado, Mark donated $250 through a slick ad for a “relief fund” that existed only to harvest cards.
Red flag: Give only through charities you verify independently — never via an ad link or unsolicited plea.
Levers pulled: Urgency, Trust
Category 5 — Investment, Employment & Marketplace Scams
Exploiting the desire to earn, save, or buy.
25. Bogus High-Yield CD & Fixed-Income Sites
Polished sites advertise FDIC-“insured” CDs or notes paying far above market, often mimicking real banks, to lure safety-seeking savers into transferring principal.
Walter wired $50,000 for an “8.5% FDIC-insured” CD; the “bank” was an internet ghost front.
Red flag: Yields well above the market are bait; verify any institution at FDIC.gov before sending money.
Levers pulled: Trust, Greed
26. Task Scams & Phantom Job Offers
Fake remote jobs — “product boosting,” liking videos, data entry — lure you in, then require you to pay deposits or deposit a fake check, supposedly to “unlock” earnings. Employment scams doubled in 2025.10
Jessica’s “employer” sent a $3,000 check for a laptop and told her to forward the surplus; the check bounced, leaving her on the hook.
Red flag: A real job never asks you to pay to work or to forward money from a deposited check.
Levers pulled: Urgency, Trust
27. Recovery / Refund-Recoupment Scams
A vicious second strike: posing as recovery firms or regulators, scammers promise to retrieve money you already lost — for an upfront fee.
After losing $40,000, Arthur paid a $3,500 “recovery fee” to a firm that then vanished.
Red flag: No legitimate firm guarantees recovery for an upfront fee; real agencies never charge to help.
Levers pulled: Authority, Trust
28. Social-Media “Ghost Store” E-Commerce
Slick Facebook/Instagram ads push steep discounts; the checkout grabs your card data and the item never arrives — or is a worthless counterfeit.
Heather bought a “70% off” designer bag from an ad; it never came and the store vanished in three days.
Red flag: Research unfamiliar sellers and pay with a credit card for chargeback protection.
Levers pulled: Urgency, Greed
29. Timeshare Exit & Resale Scams
Fraudsters claim a buyer is lined up or guarantee a contract exit, then demand upfront title, legal, or transfer fees and deliver nothing.
Ed and Joan paid a $4,000 “title transfer fee” to a shell company that provided zero services.
Red flag: Legitimate buyers don’t require large upfront fees — walk away.
Levers pulled: Trust, Urgency
30. Sweepstakes & Lottery Fraud
You’ve “won” — but must first pay a tax, customs duty, or processing fee to release the prize. The prize never exists.
82-year-old Marilyn wired $4,500 in “luxury taxes” to claim a $2.5 million prize that was never real.
Red flag: You never pay to receive a legitimate prize; real lotteries don’t charge winners.
Levers pulled: Greed, Urgency, Isolation
Build Your Defenses Before the Call Comes
The strongest protection isn’t a clever response in the moment — it’s structural armor you put in place now, while you’re calm. These steps make whole categories of fraud simply fail.
Freeze your credit — and your family’s
A security freeze at all three bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — blocks new accounts from being opened in your name. It’s free, it doesn’t affect your existing accounts or credit score, and you can lift it temporarily in minutes when you actually need credit. Freeze your children’s files too; their unused SSNs are exactly what synthetic-identity thieves want.11
Name a trusted contact on your accounts
Brokerage and bank rules let you designate a trusted contact — someone the firm can call if it suspects you’re being scammed or experiencing diminished capacity. It’s one of the most effective defenses against the “isolation” lever, because it builds a second set of eyes into the system itself. Ask us to help you add one.12
Turn on transaction alerts everywhere
Set real-time text or push alerts for every card and account transaction, plus any password or contact-info change. Most fraud is caught — and reversible — only if you notice fast.
Lock down your phone number and logins
Add a PIN or port-freeze with your mobile carrier to defeat SIM swaps, use a password manager so every login is unique, and prefer authenticator apps over SMS codes where offered.
Protect your mail and your tax filing
Use USPS Informed Delivery to see what mail is coming, avoid mailing paper checks from unsecured boxes, and request an IRS Identity Protection PIN to block fraudulent tax returns.13
Consider a verbal “family code word”
Agree on a private phrase with close family. If a panicked “relative” calls asking for money and can’t give the code word, you’ll know instantly it’s an AI clone.
The Universal Anti-Fraud Checklist
When something feels off, run through these. Any one of them stops most scams cold.
- The 24-Hour Rule. Never execute an unexpected financial transfer on the first call. Legitimate matters survive a pause; scams depend on you not taking one.
- Independent Verification. Hang up and call back using the verified number on the back of your card, your statement, or the institution’s official website — never a number someone gives you.
- The MFA Fortress. Never read a numeric security code to anyone who calls you. Those codes exist to keep people out — including the person on the phone.
- Slow the Levers. If you feel urgency, fear, secrecy, or pressure from “authority,” treat that feeling as the alarm bell it is, and stop.
- Verify Before You Pay or Trust. Confirm charities, sellers, banks, and “recovery” firms through an independent source before sending a dollar. No legitimate prize, job, or recovery requires an upfront fee.
- Loop in a Second Person. Call a family member, your bank, or your advisor before acting on anything that surprised you. Breaking isolation breaks the scam.
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About the Authors
Ron A. Rhoades, JD, CFP®
Ron Rhoades is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Gordon Ford College of Business, Western Kentucky University. He also serves as a financial advisor at Scholar Financial, a practice within XY Investment Solutions LLC. With a background as both an attorney and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, Ron is a nationally recognized authority on the fiduciary duties of financial advisors.
Chris Brown, Ph.D., CFP®
Chris Brown is a faculty member in the Department of Finance at the Gordon Ford College of Business, Western Kentucky University, and a financial advisor at Scholar Financial, a practice within XY Investment Solutions, LLC. He holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation and a Ph.D. in Finance. His research and teaching focus is on behavioral finance, retirement planning, and evidence-based investment strategies.
Disclosure
This article is provided by Scholar Financial, LLC for general educational purposes and does not constitute legal, tax, or individualized financial advice. Fraud statistics are drawn from the Federal Trade Commission and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center; full citations appear in the Notes & Sources section above. If you believe you are a victim of fraud, contact your financial institution immediately and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov.
The characters depicted are fictional and any relation to real persons is solely incidental. Scenarios and references to real people or experiences are used solely to illustrate educational concepts. These examples may not apply to your individual circumstances.
Advisory services are offered through XYPN Sapphire and its various IAR brands under which it operates. XYPN Sapphire is an SEC registered investment advisor. For additional disclosure and privacy information, please visit XYPNSapphire.com/disclosures
Notes and Sources
Endnotes are numbered in the order their facts first appear above. Statistics are cited to primary U.S. government sources — the Federal Trade Commission and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center — with consumer-protection resources from the FTC, IRS, FINRA, and others.
- Federal Trade Commission. (2026, March 25). FTC testifies before the Joint Economic Committee on agency’s efforts to combat fraud [Press release]. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/03/ftc-testifies-joint-economic-committee-agencys-efforts-combat-fraud
- Federal Trade Commission. (2025, March 10). New FTC data show a big jump in reported losses to fraud to $12.5 billion in 2024 [Press release]. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/03/new-ftc-data-show-big-jump-reported-losses-fraud-125-billion-2024
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2026, April 6). Cryptocurrency and AI scams bilk Americans of billions [Press release]. https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/cryptocurrency-and-ai-scams-bilk-americans-of-billions
- Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center. (2026). 2025 internet crime report. U.S. Department of Justice. https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf
- Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center. (2025). 2024 internet crime report. U.S. Department of Justice. https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2024_IC3Report.pdf
- Federal Trade Commission. (2025, August 7). FTC data show a more than four-fold increase in reports of impersonation scammers stealing tens and even hundreds of thousands from older adults [Press release]. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/08/ftc-data-show-more-four-fold-increase-reports-impersonation-scammers-stealing-tens-even-hundreds
- Federal Trade Commission. (2026, May 7). New trends in reports of imposter scams. Consumer Advice. https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2026/05/new-trends-reports-imposter-scams
- Federal Trade Commission. (2026, April 16). With people losing big to investment scams, learn how to spot and avoid them. Consumer Advice. https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2026/04/people-losing-big-investment-scams-learn-how-spot-and-avoid-them
- S. Postal Inspection Service. (2025, March 24). Brushing scam. https://www.uspis.gov/news/scam-article/brushing-scam
- Better Business Bureau. (n.d.). BBB warning: “Task optimization” employment scam leads to large losses. Retrieved June 6, 2026, from https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/30866-bbb-warning-task-optimization-employment-scam-leads-to-large-losses
- Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). Credit freezes and fraud alerts. Consumer Advice. Retrieved June 6, 2026, from https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/credit-freezes-and-fraud-alerts
- (n.d.). Investor bulletin: Why you should consider adding a trusted contact to your account. Retrieved June 6, 2026, from https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/trusted-contact
- Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). Get an identity protection PIN (IP PIN). Retrieved June 6, 2026, from https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/get-an-identity-protection-pin
