Many scams share one ingredient: urgency.
Your account will be closed. Your refund expires today. Your child needs money immediately. Your payment is overdue.
The purpose of the deadline is not necessarily to make the underlying claim true. It is to reduce the time available for independent verification.
That is why “slow down” is such a powerful security instruction.
If a message demands immediate action, stop and verify it through a separate channel.
Legitimate organisations may have deadlines, but you should still be able to access them through their official services rather than an unexpected link.
Urgency should increase your verification, not reduce it.