Recognizing a Telephone Scam

People get scammed every day on the phone. The elderly and low income are particularly vulnerable and that is a sad state of affairs. But everyone is subject to being a victim of criminals, and millions every year experience identity and account theft.

One of the common scams found today involves con artists calling someone and pretending to be a legitimate business. The criminals do their homework and may even know your name and address so they can call and represent themselves as insurance agents or account representatives. If convinced the person is from your insurance agency or bank, you are much more likely to give out your personal account information or buy a product or service. Of course you never get what you paid for over the phone because it was not a legitimate offer.

Telemarketing Scams

There are a number of scams that involve telemarketers calling a person and offering something for sale or a great bargain. Learning how to recognize a telephone fraud and responding appropriately is important in order to avoid becoming a victim.

There are always signs a telemarketing scam is in the works.

• The caller refuses to give you the name of a company or a phone number where you can call back

• The caller insists that you pay with a money order and there are no other payment options

• The caller requires your credit card information and bank account number before the call continues further or before you have decided to purchase anything

• The caller offers a deal that is unbelievable  (if it sounds unbelievable then it probably is)

• The caller tells you that the purchase must be made right now because the offer is expiring when the call ends

• The caller claims to be someone in authority like a manager who wants to make sure you are getting the best and most exclusive deal

• The caller tries to be over-friendly even though you have no idea who you are talking to

• The caller claims you need to confirm your merchant or bank account number

• A person calls and says that you need to call a particular toll-free number to keep your cell phone number from being released to telemarketers or to verify account information and the number is not toll free

Just Deduct What I Owe…

One day a woman gets a call. The caller tells her that she has won a big cash prize as a valued customer. The telemarketer tells her that she only needs to send a $5.00 money order to claim her prize. She can also add another $10.00 and buy a great product at a huge discount at the same time. The caller has done his homework and knows she has an account with a particular business so that is the account mentioned to give the caller legitimacy.

The woman responds, “I have a good idea. You deduct the $15.00 from my cash prize and send me the cash balance and the discounted product.” The telemarketer promptly hung up!  Obviously she recognized she was being scammed.

The key to avoid being scammed by telemarketers, real or criminal, is to be suspicious of anyone who wants you to reveal private information or to send money. If you don’t know who you are dealing with then you should promptly end the call.