Phone scammers are the bane of many people’s existence. They call at all hours of the day and night, often pretending to be from a well-known company or organization.
If you’re not careful, they can easily take your money by convincing you to provide them with personal information or by asking you to make a fraudulent purchase. Thankfully, there are several things you can do to protect yourself from phone scammers.
In this post, we’ll discuss some of the best ways to avoid becoming a victim of phone fraud.
1. Don’t answer the phone if you don’t know who’s calling
Simple as that! If you’re not expecting a call or if you don’t recognize the number, hang up and/or ignore it. The next time they may try harder to disguise their number and other information about them to make themselves sound legitimate.
If you hang upon them, there is a good chance they will block your number from receiving future calls; however, this doesn’t always happen so be sure to avoid answering such calls.
Also Read: “Your WhatsApp Messenger account has expired”: beware of the scam
2. Never give your personal information out over the phone
Even if someone claiming to be from Microsoft says they need access to your computer because of a problem with Windows – DON’T GIVE THEM ACCESS! This is a popular ploy, and many people fall for it, even if they think the request is suspicious.
Scammers love to trick people into giving them money by putting on some sort of show, but you need to ignore it and remain calm. If you’re nervous, just hang up the phone and wait for their next call (if there is one).
3. Always be highly skeptical of unsolicited requests for information over the phone
Let’s say someone calls claiming they are from your bank and need certain information in order to verify who you are so they can help you with an issue.
You should never give out such sensitive personal information like account numbers or passwords without confirming that this person is really who they claim to be from your bank or another company you know.
4. If you think they might be legitimate, hang up and call the company yourself to check
Maybe they sound like they know what they’re talking about, but if you feel uncertain, just hang up and call the company’s official number yourself to verify that someone has called you trying to scam you.
Of course, this also applies when you receive written mail that requests personal information or payment in order to resolve an issue with your account or purchase.
You should never reply unless you can confirm the sender’s identity by calling them directly. Doing so will help protect your money and private information from phone scammers!
You can also do a reverse phone lookup search to find out who called you and report a scammer as appropriate.
5. Report suspicious calls to the appropriate authorities
While you can’t get your money back, reporting scammers will help others avoid becoming victims of their scams in the future. This is especially important if you often receive these types of calls or feel that they are very serious.
If enough reports are made, companies like Google and Microsoft may take steps to prevent them from showing up on their products (like Gmail, Skype, etc.), allowing people to become less vulnerable to phone scammers moving forward.
6. Never be afraid to just hang up the phone
It can feel scary to hang up on someone, but it’s better than giving them access to your money or information! If you’re not sure you can trust a person over the phone, don’t hesitate to end the call if you think they might be trying to scam you.
You should always feel comfortable hanging up when people are asking for sensitive personal information or want you to make purchases.
Also Read: “Your computer has been locked”: a new wave of online scams, what to do
7. Don’t fall for intimidation tactics
Phone scammers are pretty smart and will try every trick in the book in order to get what they want from their victims.
If they sense that you are nervous or intimidated by them, there is a good chance they will use this tactic against you to try and convince you to go along with whatever they’re saying. So as soon as you realize what’s happening, just hang up the phone!
No one likes to become a victim of phone scams; however, many people do. If you follow these steps, you can help ensure that you don’t fall for common schemes like this in the future.
Remember to share this information with your friends and family so they can also avoid becoming victims of scammers!
