Some scams can make a telltale sound—rinnng, rinnng! Yup, the dreaded robocall. Not only are they annoying, but they can also hit you in the pocketbook.
In the U.S., unwanted calls rank as the top consumer complaint reported to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), partly because scammers have made good use of spoofing technologies that serve up phony caller ID numbers. As a result, that innocent-looking phone number may not be innocent at all.
Whether the voice on the other end of the smartphone is recorded or an actual person, the intent behind the call is likely the same—to scam you out of your personal information, money, or both. Callers such as these may impersonate banks, government agencies, insurance companies, along with any number of other organizations that give them an excuse to demand payment, financial information, or ID numbers.
And some of those callers can sound rather convincing. Others, well, they’ll just get downright aggressive or threatening. One of the most effective tools these scam calls use is a sense of urgency and fear, telling you that there’s a problem right now and they need your information immediately to resolve whatever bogus issue they’ve come up with. That right there is a sign you should take pause and determine what’s really happening before responding or taking any action.
Avoid and stop robocalls with these tips
Whatever form these unwanted calls take, there are things you can do to protect yourself and even keep you from getting them in the first place. These five tips will get you started:
1) Check your caller ID closely
Okay, maybe you can file this one under “obviously.” Yet be aware that ..
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