Author | Aram Anthony
Once considered luxury items, smartphones are now essential everyday tools relied on for communication, entertainment, breaking news and so much more. They even help users manage their finances.
Unfortunately, today’s smartphone user must maintain constant vigilance against high-tech scammers. We’ve looked into some current scams to
help heighten your fraud awareness, as well as provide ways you can protect yourself against them.
Threatening calls from the government
How to tell it’s a scam: Anyone claiming they’re from the IRS demanding payment over the phone is a scammer. They may even threaten you with imminent arrest. The IRS does not communicate via phone and they do not threaten people with arrest.
What you can do: As soon as you identify the call as a scam, hang up. You’re not being rude, you’re protecting yourself.
Technical support calls
How to tell it’s a scam: You receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from a tech company like Microsoft or Google, telling you there’s a problem with your computer. They’ll offer to fix it by walking you through a few steps over the phone. The steps they’ll give will most likely download malicious software that could reveal personal information or give them remote control of your computer.
What you can do: End the phone call as soon as possible. For further assurance, you can call tech support from the company the caller is claiming to be from. You can find the number on the company’s website.
Fake charity appeals
How to tell it’s a scam: The caller claims to represent a charity, often one that involves children, disaster relief or any kind of cause that tugs at the heartstrings.
What you can do: Never give the caller any kind of donation over the phone. Almost all legitimate charities have an official website where you can safely submit a donation.
Lottery scams
How to tell it’s a scam: If a caller tells you that you’ve won a lottery prize—but before you can collect your prize money, you have to pay taxes, it’s a scam. You should never have to pay money to collect a prize. Also, never trust anyone who tells you that you’ve won something from a contest or lottery you didn’t enter.
What you can do: As with most phone scams, the best way to protect yourself is to simply hang up.
Family members in peril
How to tell it’s a scam: Seniors are a favorite target of this scam. Someone claiming to be a family member calls to tell you they are in trouble (maybe they’re in jail or their car has broken down) and asks you for money over the phone.
What you can do: If you get a call like this, hang up and call them back directly, using a phone number from your contacts. If they claim to be in legal trouble, ask them where they are being held. If they tell you a location, hang up and call that police department or courthouse.
Bank fraud calls
How to tell it’s a scam: Always be suspicious of anyone calling to notify you of fraudulent activity in your bank account, especially if they ask you for sensitive
information like bank account numbers or passwords.
What you can do: Do not give the caller any private information. Instead, hang up. Most banks have online alerts you can set up in your mobile banking app to notify you of suspicious activity. You can also call your local branch, but never use a number given to you over the phone or in a voicemail.
Other urgent requests
How to tell it’s a scam: One thing most phone scams have in common is a heightened sense of urgency; you must pay/provide private information/rectify this situation right now or there will be some kind of dire consequences.
What you can do: As a general rule, do not engage with these callers. Simply hang up. A growing trend is to refuse to answer any call from an unfamiliar number. Legitimate callers will leave a voicemail message that you can respond to on your terms. While it’s true that scammers sometimes leave messages too, those are easy to erase.
In addition, a good rule of thumb is to never buy anything over the phone if you did not initiate the call. Also, if a caller asks to confirm your health insurance information, hang up and call the number on your insurance card.
Our smartphones are essential companions, and as such, they aren’t going anywhere. But staying vigilant and following the guidelines above may help protect you from those seeking to commit fraud by phone.
This content was originally published in our award-winning magazine In Your Corner. See Issue 15 here: In Your Corner Magazine | Fall 2023