When smartphones were first introduced, it opened the road for thousands of spam calls & SMS. Not only spam, there are calls designed to scam people as well. While scam phone calls have decreased significantly over the past few years, they still exist.
What are Scam Phone Calls?
Scam calls are calls made to innocent people over the phone for certain benefits. On a scam phone call, the scammers use various fraudulent attempts to trap users for financial gain or to gain certain information.
In 2015, scam calls over the phone were uncontrollable, but things changed, especially after caller identification apps like TrueCaller or Google Dialer arrived. These apps aim to identify incoming calls and tell you the caller’s information even before picking up a call.
Caller identification apps allow you to choose whether to receive or reject a call. However, scammers have become smarter and now use non-spam phone numbers to make calls. These numbers usually get past all caller identification or spam protection apps without revealing details.
How to Identify Scammer Phone Number
Before identifying the scammer phone numbers & calls, it’s essential to know the most common types of phone scams. Read the next part to understand the most common phone call scams.
What are the Common Types of Phone Scams?
As we know, there are various types of phone scams, and some of them could be dangerous. In tech support scams, the callers claim to be from a popular tech company and inform the receiver that their PC has been infected. Then, they offer to fix the problem by charging a fee or gaining remote access to the PC.
Similarly, phishing scam calls trick you into providing sensitive information like account passwords, credit card details, etc. Below, we have highlighted some of the most common phone scams you should look out for.
1. Tech Support Scams
In tech support scams, the scam callers claim to be from a popular tech company and inform the receiver that their PC has been infected. Then, they offer to fix the problem by charging a fee or gaining remote access to the PC.
2. Arrest Threats
Some phone scammers pose themselves as officers from the police departments and give Arrest threats to innocents. The scammers make the entire process look legitimate and ask for information or fake penalty fees.
3. Fake Charities Scam
Scammers often take advantage of good-natured humanitarians and reach out to people by creating fake charities & donations. Fake Charities scams usually demand money.
4. Debt Relief
Everyone wants to be debt-free and live a simple life; scammers often exploit this. Scammers often market fake debt relief schemes and ask you to pay a fake processing fee. Sometimes, scammers can also ask you to provide sensitive information like bank account details, login OTPs, etc.
5. Phishing Scam
As we have mentioned above, there are phishing scam calls that trick you into providing sensitive information like account passwords, credit card details, etc.
6. Contest Wins
This is another popular form of phone scam that’s trending these days. In this scam, the victims receive calls informing them about fake contest wins or lottery prizes, but they need to pay the processing fees & taxes to claim them.
Health Insurance Scams
In this phone scam, the scammer claims to be from a legitimate health insurance company. They usually present victims with attractive health insurance plans that look too good to be true. The scammer convinces victims to believe it’s true, providing sensitive financial information and paying the fake fee.
Job Offer Scams
In this form of phone scam, scammers offer fake job offers to the victims. The job offers are often very lucrative, and the scammers force the victims to provide personal information, fees for initial training, or fees for securing the position.
So, these are some forms of scam phone calls that are trending. Hence, consider these scam calls before providing sensitive details over the phone.
How Do You Tell if a Number Is a Scam?
Now, let’s move to the essential part of the article. To protect yourself from scams, you should be able to identify scam phone numbers.
Scammers may use different phone numbers to trap you and gain your personal & financial information. So, it’s best to take proper security steps to safeguard such calls on Android or iPhone.
The easiest way to detect a scam call is to notice its location. If the call is not from your home country, it’s likely from a scammer. If you receive calls from outside your home country repeatedly, it clearly indicates a scammer.
You can also use apps on your Android & iPhone like TrueCaller, ShowCaller, or Google Dialer to know who’s calling you even before picking up a call. Apps like TrueCaller are a good pick as they tell you about the scam & spam calls.
So, the best way to get started is by installing a caller identification app on your Android or iPhone. Alternatively, you can use reverse number lookup apps for Android.
How to Tell if a Call Is a Scam (If already picked)?
As we all know, scammers have become smart and use fresh or virtual phone numbers to carry out their scams. So, sometimes, certain phone numbers can get past your caller Identification apps or call spam protection feature of your smartphone.
So, if you have already received a scam phone call, you can use these hints to identify a scam effectively.
1. Asking for Passwords or OTPs
It’s important to note that original customer support never asks you to tell you the password or share OTPs. If any caller asks for passwords, it’s an apparent scam.
You should refrain from giving out your personal information, like account details, passwords, and OTPs, to anyone unknown.
2. Asking to Provide Remote Access to Your PC
Have you ever heard Microsoft or any well-known tech company ask for remote access? Microsoft asks its users for the event viewer log data to troubleshoot specific problems but never asks for remote access.
So, if anyone calls you asking for remote access to a computer, it will likely be a scam. Even if your PC is fine, they will create a problem and ask for money to fix it.
3. Insurance Policies or Benefits that look too good to be real
Everyone loves gifts, and scammers take advantage of this. Scammers can trick you into believing you’ve won a lottery or a prize; don’t fall for these traps.
They may even trick you into believing you’re eligible for that alluring insurance or health policy.
Take a deep breath and consider: Have you ever entered a contest or expected a lottery prize? If the answer is no, chances are that those attractive policies, prizes, etc., are fake.
4. Refusing to give enough information
Anyone from a legitimate company would never refuse to provide additional information about the topic you’re discussing. Someone who claims your ‘friend’ or ‘relative’ is in trouble but can’t provide an actual name is likely to be a scammer.
It’s best to avoid dealing with people over the phone who provide incomplete or false information about things.
How to Protect Yourself from Scam Calls?
You need to take care of a few things to prevent yourself from getting scammed. Here are the key things to remember.
- Never give out personal & financial information to callers you don’t trust.
- Cross check their identity before providing any information.
- Always use caller identification apps like TrueCaller.
- Don’t call back the missed calls.
- Don’t make payments without verifying it from multiple sources or gaining enough trust.
- Use Spam blocker apps to prevent scam calls.
This guide explains how to tell if a phone number is from a scammer. Scam calls can be hazardous, so educating yourself about common scams is essential. Let us know if you need more clarification on understanding specific scam calls.
