Here’s something I hear all the time: “I’d never fall for a phishing email.”
Then I show them one, and they click it.
It’s not that people are dumb. It’s that scam emails, texts, and notifications have gotten really good. The Nigerian prince stuff is long gone. What’s replaced it looks like a password reset from Microsoft, a shipping notification from UPS, or a voicemail transcript from your phone company.
So we built a game
Head over to game.darkhorseit.com and try it yourself. It’s called Scam or Legit — 30 scenarios across 3 rounds, and you get 10 seconds to decide if each one is real or fake.
No account needed. No signup. Just click Start and go.
Why 10 seconds?
Because that’s about how long most people spend looking at a notification before they tap or click. We wanted the game to feel like real life — you’re busy, something pops up, and you have to make a quick call.
That time pressure is exactly what scammers count on.
What you’ll see
The scenarios cover the stuff we see in the wild every week:
- Emails that look like they’re from your bank, your boss, or Microsoft
- Text messages about package deliveries, account alerts, and payment confirmations
- Popups and notifications warning you about viruses or expired subscriptions
Some are real. Some are scams. The difference is often one small detail — a weird sender address, an urgent tone that doesn’t match the situation, or a link that goes somewhere unexpected.
What most people get wrong
After watching people play this, the pattern is clear:
- Urgency works. When a message says “act now or lose access,” people stop thinking and start clicking. Scammers know this.
- Brand familiarity creates trust. If it has the Microsoft logo, people trust it. Logos are easy to copy.
- Nobody checks the sender. The display name says “PayPal” but the email address is
paypal-security@randomdomain.com. Most people never look.
Use it for your team
If you run a business, have your employees play through it. It takes about 5 minutes, and you’ll learn more about your team’s security awareness than any training video will tell you.
We’re not selling anything with this. It’s a free tool we built because the best security training is the kind people actually do — and games beat PowerPoints every time.
Try it now
game.darkhorseit.com — 30 scenarios, 3 rounds, about 5 minutes. See how you do.
And if you want to talk about security training for your team, or if the game made you nervous about your setup, reach out. We talk about this stuff every Thursday morning at 7:40am on KFGO.