I hate overreacting to bad news, but I don’t think this statement is an overreaction: All emails, texts and phone calls that you get from companies, non-profits and government organizations are scams. Yes, all of them.

Sounds extreme, I know, but this is the only intelligent way to think these days.

I have lost track of the warnings about text, phone and e-mail scams we’ve gotten at the Monitor. The DMV is not telling you to immediately send money or your license will be revoked. E-ZPass is not telling you to immediately send money or collection agencies will descend. Your bank does not need you to “confirm” the PIN for your savings account.

A firefighters/police/veterans group is not looking for you to make an immediate donation by clicking on a link. There isn’ta free gift card waiting for you if you follow these simple instructions. Your grandchild has not been kidnapped and you must pay a lot of money via gift cards or bitcoin to save them. (That one sounds crazy but it has been around a while; my dad got that call a half-dozen years ago.)

Also, Medicare is not sending out new cards and needs you to “con firm” your Medicare number over the phone.

I almost fell for that one last week, which is why you’re reading this column. It wasn’t my fault: They called before my second cup of morning coffee. They knew my street address and some other details, and the lady was nice and understanding.

I went so far as to fetch my wallet so I could read the number off my Medicare card when I did that waaaaaaaaait a minute double-take you see in sitcoms. I was going to give the caller a hard time (“Does your mother know you’ve become a sleazy scam artist?”) but remembered stories I’ve read about people being coerced into making these calls, so I just hung up.

But it was close.

Don’t think you can figure out which calls and texts and emails are legit and which are scams. The bad guys have become too good at faking it – it’s their job, after all – and too good at finding all of our personal information that makes the scam seem real.

Worst than that: The use of so-called artificial intelligence means they’re now too good at imitating people you know. That is a particularly scary development, the latest reflection of the fact that criminals are usually the first to make effective use of new tech.

A.I. lets you make incredibly convincing audio and even video simulations of people. If your spouse or boss or adult child has some photos online – and who doesn’t? – or audio online, it can be scraped and used to create a phone or video call that will fool you. There have already been multiple reports of this method being used to get managers to transfer company funds to the wrong place because they thought a higher-up had called and ordered it, and I imagine the same thing has been done within families.

Aside from despairing, what should we do? The answer, I’m afraid, is inconvenient.

Never do anything that involves transferring money or giving out information like Social Security numbers unless you initiated the conversation. If you get a call or text that seems legitimate and you want to follow up, don’t use the contact information they give you. If it’s an organization, use web search to find their contact information; if it’s a person you know, reach out to them separately.

At the most extreme, you can develop a “safe word” with loved ones such as a child so that if they seem to call and need money, you can be sure it’s actually them. It’s awful to need to do that, I know, but such is the world we live in.

I have plenty more tips where that came from. Just send $500 in Bookshop.org gift cards to me at the Monitor with your name, address and Social Security number. But hurry or the offer will expire.

(Note, just in case: That last paragraph is a joke.)