Today we present you the most common myths regarding telephone advertising, telephone fraud and cost traps.
1. Only old people are vulnerable to phone scam
It is true that old people tend to be less informed about the latest phone scam tricks, more forgetful and careless than the young. Scammers also know that and thus, they have aimed the old group as their target. By mentioning a name of a family member or introducing themselves as bank employees, those over sixty years olds are likely to fall into their trap.
According to Better Business Bureau, two thirds of the total scam victims are people under 45 years old. Furthermore, there has been at least one notable fraud that has caught young people off guard, the Microsoft support scam. The scam managed to access the sensitive data of people aged 18 to 34.
In short, everyone has to be on the lookout, including the young, well updated individuals with sharp minds.
2. Bank staff may need to know our PIN number or online banking password
This is totally false. Your PIN and password are highly confidential. The staff do not need to know those digits to deal with the problems we may be experiencing. Furthermore, the staff will find out who we are through our account number.
3. It is easy to identify scams
Scams are usually sophisticated. They sound convincing and look legitimate. Scammers are even known as master manipulators, who can make use of technology for their own benefits and impersonate parties whom the victims are likely to trust.
4. The caller number displayed on the phone screen is genuine
Spoofing is now a common phenomenon. Phone numbers can easily be spoofed to make the callers look familiar. This applies for both phone calls and text messages.
5. When personal data are safe, money is safe too
Revealing personal information is risky. But accessing data is not the only way scammers can get money from. One well known trick is by provoking a recall through ping calls. In this way, they will call, usually using a foreign number, and once we call back, we will be charged a high fee per minute.
6. Money is all that the scammers want
Data is another kind of treasure for scammers. Data are like commodities that they can either sell or use for their own benefit. In some cases, scammers try to steal personal identity to facilitate illegal immigration, passport and driver’s license. Also, the stolen data can be used to be prepared with a backup, false identification before or when committing a crime.
Confidential data taken from companies, on the other hand, can be sold to business competitors, which in the end, allows scammers to reap off some financial benefit.
7. Scams do not significantly affect the economy and population
The statistics from Better Business Bureau are quite astonishing. Scams collect almost $50 billion per year and one out of five North Americans has become the scam victim.
8. Small amounts of money requests are not scams
Some may think that scammers are those who steal more than just a few dollars because such small amounts will not compensate for the time and effort. Mind you, though, scammers are in different locations around the world and the values of different currencies also apply. Additionally, small amounts can add up as the number of the scam victims becomes higher.
9. Signing up on the do-not-call list means no more phone scam
Based on the current legal law, telephone advertising or cold calls are permitted. Requesting to no longer be contacted or registering on TPS means that companies cannot give you the bothering calls. Unluckily, only a small number of companies comply with the rules. A lot of companies do not seem to mind the £ 500,000 fine.
10. Phone fraud does not exist anymore
The truth is the exact opposite. Both phone fraud and phone advertising still exist. Cases are still reported daily. In 2021 the number even broke records with 116% scam increase and it was estimated that the USA citizens alone lost $30 billion. According to T-Mobile, its Scam Shield technology blocked more than 21 billion scam calls in 2021, and the company has also forecasted that the spam calls bombardment will soon be higher than the pre-pandemic numbers.
11. Reporting the fraudsters’ phone numbers is useless
Taking some time to report phone scam to Action Fraud can save others, especially those who google suspicious phone numbers before picking up the calls. There is also a big chance that the reported cases will be investigated by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. Sharing scam related information or experiences on tellows can help warn others.