Telephone scams to watch out for in 2020
With the dawn of a new decade came different new years’ resolutions. However, not all of them were honest or made with good intentions. Some people wasted no time to start and do criminal activities. It is said that evil takes no rest and thus even though it is 2020, you have to be on alert for telephone scams. Today, just as anytime before, there is a considerable risk for being tricked or falling into fraud via a phone call. Whocallingyou has prepared a hopefully helpful guide and article for telephone scams that you should keep an eye out in 2020.
No. 1 – social security scams
Over the past few years, social security telephone scams have ramped up. Criminals go great lengths just to obtain sensitive personal information. If you are familiar with the possible threats, you should be aware that giving away delicate personal details over the phone is very risky.
Social security fraud prevention is oriented towards your own and personal awareness. As a given rule, official or government agencies exercise the option to inform over the phone, not conclude business or gather data. They could tell you about the things that you should after arriving to their office but will probably never ask to confirm your identity.
No organisation should have the necessity to get your social security number over the phone. Keep this in mind.
Do not forget that you can quickly drop the call (if you get suspicious) and check the number on a reverse phone lookup site.
This way, you can know about fraud beforehand.
No. 2 – I got into a car accident.
Timeless classic. An elderly lady is contacted by a trembling and sobbing voice. It’s her son, grandson, daughter or granddaughter. They say that they were involved in a car accident and the other party is demanding cash upfront to press no charges.
The potential victim would feel stress and agree to the demands of the caller, who they are tricked into believing is their family member. Immediately after this, try to reach the relatives in question via a phone number you have saved or through their family. Never go out of your way before having the confirmation from somebody around that problems seriously happened.
Once again, a telephone number search could help identify crooks.
No. 3 – anything banks or money-related
Just as with the No. 1 scam, if someone calls and introduces themselves as a representative of a bank or any financial institution that you haven’t had personal interactions with, always be on alert.
Telephone fraud is widespread. Globally. Scams, when the fraudster claims to be a bank employee or insurance agent, are especially prevalent. They will once again try to lure out sensitive info like PIN codes, bank account numbers, logins, passwords, social security numbers, etc. Do not give real info and instead demand a meeting face to face for the matters to be resolved.
No. 4 Computer scams
This is a combination scam. It works in a simple manner. You accidentally misspelt the name of a popular website (or download a purposeful file) which redirects you to a domain that claims that your computer was infected by a virus. This is the trick that hackers use. One of your mistakes could lead to a website which claims that your PC is in severe trouble.
A telephone number is listed on the site which claims that you need to contact Windows representatives for the problem removal. If you contact the number, you play right into the trap. The people behind the phone number are actually scammers who will try to take control of your computer and instead show you a process of purchasing antivirus software. However, instead of cleaning your computer (since there is nothing to clean in the first place), they clean out your bank account.