Tech Talk with Jeff - Protecting ourselves from scam calls
Scam calls are a part of life these days. Hard to avoid and constantly out there. How to protect ourselves from these calls?
Not always easy to do, but there are methods that will help reduce the calls and protect you from these threats. Be aware that once you have answered one of these types of calls, they now know you exist and that makes your number worth more since they know they can reach someone and the potential for pulling off a scam is higher. An unknown number is one you don’t recognize or one that is blocked. Here are a few options:
Don’t answer - If you don’t recognize the number, don’t answer the call. Lousy way to have to operate, but it is effective. If it is really a valid call, they will leave a voicemail and you can follow up with them. It is not always easy to use this method because sometimes a call is valid and needs to be handled.
If you do answer a call from an unknown number, remember you are not obligated to answer their questions and be careful of yes type answers that can be used against you where they pull just the yes out of the recording and claim you said yes to whatever they are pushing. When someone is trying to scam you, you don’t need to be polite. Just hang up on them. I know that is hard. We are all taught to be polite
Do Not Call Registry (888.382.1222) - Put your phone number on it. That prevents the more legal type calls from coming your way. It won’t stop all of them since real scammers don’t care if you are on this list.
Block it - If you recognize a number as a scam, block it. Won’t stop all the calls and scammers change numbers and use fake numbers all the time, but it can help.
Check with your carrier - Some of them are putting more systems in place to help recognize scam numbers. My cell phone now tells me if it is a suspected scam call. I’m liking that feature!
As always, you must protect yourself. You are the one they are trying to scam, and the scammers will always find ways to try to get past the protections that we try to put in place, so make sure you are paying attention and using the methods you can to minimize the disruptions and threats coming at you.
Be aware and be safe!
