Social engineering scams can come through any communication channel (e.g., email. texting, phone calls, social media, etc.). They can even come in the mail. Think of the flyers you might have received with too-good-to-be-true offers. Another recently reported mail scam is a fake refund check.
The scam has the recipient receiving a refund check supposedly from American Express. The instructions tell the person to deposit the check, then transfer some portion of it to someone else for some made-up reason, such as taxes or a handling fee.
The check is fake, but legitimate-looking, so the bank won’t catch it until they verify it a few days later. By then, the money transfer is long gone, and the depositor is out that amount.
Be suspicious of any unexpected communication, and verify the origin of that correspondence before acting on it.