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Check First

by Emma Whitaker

Trinity Books · October 28, 2026

A warm, clever diary that turns the hard subject of investment scams into a habit any student — and any family — can keep.

Reading time: About 3 h 10 min (at 230 words a minute)

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Length198 pages

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Details

AuthorUnited States Emma Whitaker
CategoryProtecting yourself from scams / General knowledge of investing / Letters and diary fiction
Language of the bookEnglish
PublishedOctober 28, 2026
Length198 pages
Product numberTB-W0003-EN
Reading timeAbout 3 h 10 min (at 230 words a minute)
Print-ready PDFA5 · interior PDF and cover PDF (with bleed: two versions, 3 mm and 3.175 mm, can be downloaded.) · 198 pages

Categories of this book

CategoriesMoney and lawProtecting yourself from scams

CategoriesMoney and lawGeneral knowledge of investing

CategoriesStoriesLetters and diary fiction

About this book

Tess is eighteen and starting her first year at university when her grandmother gives her a green notebook and asks her to write down, every week, one thing she checked for herself. Over the year that follows, Tess, her friends and her family meet the many faces of investment scams, from screenshots of profits in group chats to a famous face in a fake advertisement. A diary of one student's year that teaches the habit that protects against them all: check first, through a source you choose yourself.

One student, one notebook, one year — and the habit that protects against investment scams.

Screenshots of profits in a group chat. An online "mentor" with a paid VIP group. A platform that promises "guaranteed" growth. A countdown that leaves no time to think. An app whose balance keeps rising, until a fee must be paid to take the money out. A club that pays you to bring in friends, a kind stranger online who starts to talk about investing, a well-known face in an advertisement and, after a loss, an offer to get the money back. Tess meets all of them in her first year away from home, and her lab partner Marcus loses most of his savings.

Told as Tess's diary, honest, funny and sometimes frightening, the book shows in every chapter one concrete way to verify a claim through a source you choose yourself: the official register, a website you find on your own, a call to the number on your card, a day of waiting, a friend you trust. Each week Tess also writes down a short animal fable from her grandmother, a retired bookkeeper, that shows the same lesson in a picture simple enough to share with a younger brother or sister.

Every chapter ends with things to talk about as a family, so that students, parents and grandparents can learn to check together. The back of the book gathers Tess's notes on checking and the first steps to take if something has already gone wrong.

After reading this book, you will be able to…

  • Recognise the common warning signs of investment scams, online and offline
  • Check a firm or an offer through sources you choose yourself, such as the official register
  • Explain why screenshots, rising balances and famous faces are not proof
  • Slow down when you are rushed and make no money decision on the day it is asked for
  • Know the first steps to take if you or someone in your family has been deceived
  • Talk about money and online offers as a family, without blame or embarrassment

Contents

  • Before You Begin: A Note to Readers and Their Families
  • How This Book Is Arranged
  • About the Information in This Book
  • Chapter 1: A Notebook From My Grandmother
    1. Sunday Night, Week 1
    2. Thursday Night, Week 1
    3. Sunday Night, Week 2
    4. Grandma's Fable: The Squirrel Who Counted Twice
    5. Monday Night, Week 2
    6. What I Checked This Week
    7. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 2: Screenshots in the Group Chat
    1. Monday Night, Week 3
    2. Wednesday Night, Week 3
    3. Friday Night, Week 3
    4. Sunday Night, Week 3
    5. Grandma's Fable: The Pond in the Picture
    6. Monday Night, Week 4
    7. What I Checked This Week
    8. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 3: The Mentor and His Free Lesson
    1. Tuesday Night, Week 5
    2. Thursday Night, Week 5
    3. Saturday Night, Week 5
    4. Sunday Night, Week 5
    5. Grandma's Fable: The Peacock Who Sold Feathers
    6. Monday Night, Week 6
    7. What I Checked This Week
    8. Things to Talk About as a Family
More
  • Chapter 4: A Word I Learned to Distrust: Guaranteed
    1. Monday Night, Week 7
    2. Wednesday Night, Week 7
    3. Friday Night, Week 7
    4. Sunday Night, Week 7
    5. Grandma's Fable: The Goose and the Ten Eggs
    6. Monday Night, Week 8
    7. What I Checked This Week
    8. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 5: Only Ten Places Left
    1. Tuesday Night, Week 9
    2. Wednesday Night, Week 9
    3. Thursday Night, Week 9
    4. Sunday Night, Week 9
    5. Grandma's Fable: The Gate That Was Always Closing
    6. Monday Night, Week 10
    7. What I Checked This Week
    8. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 6: The App That Looked Real
    1. Tuesday Night, Week 11
    2. Thursday Night, Week 11
    3. Sunday Evening, Week 11
    4. Grandma's Fable: The Mouse and the Painted Cheese
    5. Wednesday Night, Week 12
    6. What I Checked This Week
    7. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 7: Home for the Long Break
    1. The Long Break, Day 2
    2. The Long Break, Day 5
    3. The Long Break, Day 8
    4. Grandma's Fable: The Tortoise and the Three Questions
    5. The Long Break, Day 8, Late at Night
    6. What I Checked This Week
    7. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 8: The Fee to Get My Own Money Back
    1. Monday Night, Week 1
    2. Wednesday Night, Very Late, Week 1
    3. Thursday Night, Week 1
    4. Sunday Evening, Week 1
    5. Grandma's Fable: The Toll at the Bridge
    6. What I Checked This Week
    7. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 9: Bring Three Friends
    1. Tuesday Night, Week 3
    2. Thursday Night, Week 3
    3. Sunday Evening, Week 3
    4. Grandma's Fable: The Tower of Beetles
    5. Wednesday Night, Week 4
    6. What I Checked This Week
    7. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 10: A Kind Stranger Online
    1. Friday Night, Week 5
    2. Saturday Night, Week 6
    3. Sunday Evening, Week 6
    4. Grandma's Fable: The Nightingale Behind the Wall
    5. Wednesday Night, Week 7
    6. What I Checked This Week
    7. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 11: A Famous Face in an Advertisement
    1. Tuesday Night, Week 8
    2. Wednesday, Week 8
    3. Thursday Night, Week 8
    4. Grandma's Fable: The Wolf in the Shepherd's Hat
    5. Sunday Night, Week 8
    6. What I Checked This Week
    7. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 12: The Second Fox
    1. Monday Night, Week 9
    2. Wednesday, Week 9
    3. Thursday, Week 9
    4. Grandma's Fable: The Second Fox
    5. Sunday Night, Week 9
    6. What I Checked This Week
    7. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 13: Copies of My Identity Card
    1. Tuesday Night, Week 11
    2. Wednesday, Week 11
    3. Friday, Week 12
    4. Grandma's Fable: The Magpie Who Kept Keys
    5. Sunday Night, Week 12
    6. What I Checked This Week
    7. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Chapter 14: The Last Page of the Notebook
    1. Monday, The Last Week
    2. Thursday Night, The Last Week
    3. Saturday, The Last Week
    4. Tess's Fable: The Young Owl Who Learned to Ask
    5. Sunday Night, The Last Week
    6. What I Checked This Week
    7. Things to Talk About as a Family
  • Afterword
  • Tess's Notes on Checking, in One Place
  • For Families and Teachers
  • Where to Turn for Help
  • About the Information in This Book
  • Colophon

From the publisher

A warm, clever diary that turns the hard subject of investment scams into a habit any student — and any family — can keep.

Books about scams often read like lists of warnings. This one reads like a year of real life. Tess is clever, careful and a little lonely in a new place, and that is exactly why the book works: she is the kind of person who thinks she would never be fooled, and she comes close more than once. Her friend Marcus is not foolish either. He is generous, worried about money and hoping that something will finally be easy. The way the book follows his loss, his shame and his slow recovery, without ever blaming him, is one of its most moving parts.

Each chapter teaches one practical way of checking, always the same at its heart: use a source you choose yourself, never the link, number or person that comes with the claim. The grandmother's short animal fables give each lesson a simple picture, a squirrel who counts twice, a mouse in front of a painted store, a second fox who offers help, and they make the book easy to share across generations.

The book is careful and honest. It describes scams only as a person would meet them and sends readers to their bank, the police and the official offices in their country. The questions at the end of every chapter make it as useful at the family table or in a classroom as for quiet reading alone.

What we like

  • A student's diary over one university year, with a story that grows from chapter to chapter
  • One concrete way to verify a claim in every chapter
  • An original animal fable in every chapter, easy to share with younger readers
  • Things to talk about as a family at the end of every chapter

Recommended for

  • Students from about sixteen upwards who are starting to manage their own money and their online life
  • Parents and grandparents who want to talk about scams with the young people in their family
  • Teachers looking for a friendly starting point for lessons on money and online safety

If you think you have been deceived, contact your bank and the official offices in your country.

Read it in another language

You can buy any language edition on this page: choose it under “Language of the book” in the buy box above. Each language also has its own page.

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