OPSEC (operational security)

OPSEC, short for operational security, is the practice of protecting yourself, your identity and your work while doing sensitive tasks such as investigating scams. For beginner investigators, the core rules are: never click, visit, log in to, download from, or reply to suspicious infrastructure, such as phishing pages, scam phone numbers or criminal chat groups; write suspicious links in defanged form, like hxxps://example[.]com, so they cannot be clicked by accident; use separate research accounts and, ideally, separate devices, never your personal or work accounts; avoid sharing personal details in research spaces; and follow TLP labels. Good OPSEC keeps criminals from noticing you and keeps your real identity and systems safe.