by Dave Moore, CISSP
07/09/2023
Did you get a phone call alerting you to your car’s warranty expiring? Some callers want to help with your student loan debt, or get you to help the Policeman’s Support Fund? Maybe you got a call from “your local taxing authority,” telling you to pay your back taxes, or else.
Of course, you know those calls were from scammers, right? It is prudent to remember that, unless you’re running a business where you expect random members of the general public to call you (like I do), hardly any legitimate organizations will call you unannounced, out of the blue. They will only call you if you called them first. That means that whenever you get a call from someone you don’t know, the likelihood it’s a scam call is very high.
Statistics show most Americans receive 3-4 scam phone calls every day. Dataprot.net reports up to 55% of all phone calls are scams. Truecaller and the Harris Poll released a 2022 study showing Americans lost $39.5 billion annually to phone scams. One single scam group based in India made over 200 million scam calls, amounting to 27,000 scam calls per hour.
How can you detect scam phone calls, and not become a victim? There are a few simple rules that, if followed, will keep you in the clear.
Look at your phone’s screen before answering a call. What does it say? Even though the scammers use Caller ID spoofing, where they can make any phone number they want appear on your screen, often times the number will still be outside your calling area. If you get a call from outside your area code, the likelihood it is a scam call is very high. Don’t answer. If the caller is legitimate, they will leave a message.
Even if the call appears to be from your area code, look closely before you answer. Is there a city displayed? The bad guys, using Caller ID spoofing, will cause random cities in your state to be displayed to throw you off. If the city name seems odd, don’t answer. If the call is real, the caller will leave a message.
Do not answer calls that say “Unknown,” or “United States.” If you do accidentally answer a scam call and you hear a voice saying, “can you hear me,” hang up. Some scammers will try to get a recording of your voice saying “yes,” so the recording can be played back to phone systems that know your voice (like credit card companies) to approve certain purchases and transactions.
Never identify yourself to a caller until you are 100% sure who they are, and they are someone you actually want to talk to. Suppose your name is George Jones, and you get a call that says, “Hi, I’m calling for George Jones. Is this George Jones?” Never say, “Yes.” This call is designed to trap you. Instead, say, “Who’s calling, please? Please identify yourself.” You’ll learn pretty quickly if the call is legitimate, or not.
You can also setup your phone to only allow calls from people in your contacts list or phone book. This is a very effective way to screen out bogus phones calls. Calls from folks in your phonebook will go through. Other calls will go straight to voicemail and, if they are legitimate, they can leave a message.
Finally, register your phone number with the “Do Not Call” registry run by the Federal Trade Commission. Legitimate callers won’t call if your number is in the registry, so there’s a big clue to verifying “business” calls you might get. Visit www.donotcall.gov.
Dave Moore, CISSP, has been fixing computers in Oklahoma since 1984. Founder of the non-profit Internet Safety Group Ltd, he also teaches Internet safety community training workshops. He can be reached at 405-919-9901 or www.internetsafetygroup.org