Robocalls – Safety on the Phone

Safety On The Telephone

In this age of robocalls and phone scammers constantly bothering and harassing residents, we thought we would change things up a bit and provide you with some tips to reduce the chances of you becoming a victim of telephone fraud.

Rule #1 – If you don’t recognize the number on your caller ID, DO NOT ANSWER.  Let your answering machine do its job!

Rule #2 – NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give out any personal or financial information to anyone on an UNSOLICITED phone call. 

Rule #3 – If someone calls you and says he/she is your grandchild and is in trouble, ASK WHICH GRANDCHILD ARE YOU?  If you start throwing out names of your grandchildren, you have fallen right into the scammer’s hands.

Rule #4 – NOBODY, repeat NOBODY can monitor the speed of your computer from a remote location unless you let them.  Not Microsoft, not the NSA, NOBODY!.  If someone calls you from Microsoft or some other computer company and says your computer is infected or running too slow and they can fix it, IT IS A SCAM!  Hang up!

Rule #5 – The IRS, the US Marshals, the FBI or any other government agency WILL NOT call you and threaten any legal action – NEVER!

Rule #6 – If anyone calls you and says that you must pay (for whatever reason) using any kind of gift card or prepaid credit card, IT IS A SCAM!  There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this rule.

 Rule #7 – If you answer a call that turns out to be a robocall, you have alerted the computer that is making the calls that a human answered the phone at that particular time, on a particular day of the week.  That information then gets passed on to other robocallers and you will likely continue to get robocalls. 

Rule #8 – If you go back and reread Rule #1, you won’t have anything to worry about.

If you need assistance with this topic or any other concern, contact information for Seniors vs. Crime is available on our website at: http://www.svcinthevillages.org/.