Scams

Tired of avoiding all those “might be scam” calls? Here’s what’s behind the label and how to stay one step ahead of phone scammers.

November 18, 2024
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5 minutes. read

Despite all the wonders of modern technology, it’s often the old ways that we rely on the most. This is certainly true for communications. We may have a choice between email, video conferencing, texting, social media, and end-to-end encrypted instant messages, but some of us may still prefer good old voice.

Yet scammers know this, and they know that we can be more vulnerable when we talk to someone. Humans are preprogrammed to believe the stories we tell them. Additionally, the voice is instantaneous, giving us less time to think about our response and giving the scammer more opportunities (perhaps even if it’s a robocall) to apply tricks. classic social engineering techniques.

What does all this mean? That we need to do a better job of handling questionable phone calls.

What does “probable scam” mean?

You I may have met a “probable scam” or similar label on some incoming calls. As the nickname suggests, this means your operator suspects the person (or robot) on the other end of the line. has a nefarious intention. Other similar labels may indicate things like “suspected scam”, “potential spam” or “potential fraud”.

Phone companies have different ways of assessing the likelihood that a call is a scam or spam. These include customer reports and network analytics – for example, identifying whether a number is making multiple calls to people on a Do Not Call list, in rapid succession. VoIP calls can also be a red flag. Most operators will then compile these “might be fraudulent” figures into a database for verification.

One thing is for sure, you should probably heed this warning. Research reveals that global phone fraud and spam reached an all-time high last year. About 28% of unknown calls were fraud or spam in 2023, and 16% of consumers lost money. Although this figure is down from 22% in 2022, average losses have climbed 527% annually to $2,257.

How did they know my number?

Even if you are on a do not call list or similar, scammers can still get their hands on your number. They could:

• scratch it public social media accounts
• get it from a historical data breach from a third party vendor you share it with
• trick you into sending it via a phishing email
• get it from a data broker – a company that collects and sells consumer information
• use automated software to generate and call random numbers in a specific area code

Count the cost

While 16% of global consumers reported losing money to phone scams in 2023, this figure is even higher in some countries like Germany (19%) and France (18%). It also costs victims time. Consumers say they spend nine minutes a week, or nearly eight hours a year, filtering out nuisance calls.

What are the main phone scams?

Several parties may be responsible for fraudulent phone calls: telemarketers who make the calls, “lead generators” who collect and provide them with numbers, and VoIP companies who facilitate illegal robocalls known as robocalls .

You might experience any of the following:

• Identity theft scams: Also known as vishing attack (voice phishing)A the scammer will pretend to call from a government agency, technology company, bank, utility, police force or other authority. They might claim that you owe money or that they need to verify personal information. They may tell you that your funds are at risk and need to be transferred to a “secure” account.
• Remote Access/Technical Support Scam: A fraudster posing as a legitimate entity will ask you grant them access to your computerpotentially in order to clean up non-existent malicious malware. The software you download is legitimate but its purposes are not. Once they gain access, they will search for sensitive information such as banking credentials and/or install real malware for persistent access.
• Investment scam: A scammer will make an unsolicited call promising you huge returns on an investment opportunity. Of course, the scammer’s only opportunity is to make money from you.
• Sweepstakes Scams: A scammer calls you out of the blue and claims that you have won a non-existent prize and that to claim it you need to pay a small amount of “fee” and/or hand over some personal information.
• Telemarketing calls: These could be as simple as spam calls from legitimate telemarketers or more nefarious attempts to sell you overpriced or counterfeit products and services.
• Robocalls: Some automated calls are legal and can be a useful and inexpensive way for health care providers to remind patients of their appointments, or for political entities to solicit donations, for example. However, they also enable large-scale telephone scams. In 2023, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received 1.2 million complaints about robocalls. Although this is down from 1.8 million in 2022, the actual number of spam or fraudulent robocalls is likely much higher.

How to protect yourself from scam calls

The easiest way to protect yourself from scam calls is to heed the warning label provided by your carrier. You can use the same tactic for any unknown number. After all, if it’s a legitimate caller, they’ll probably leave a voicemail. However, it can be cumbersome to filter large volumes of potential spam or scam calls. Other tactics could include:

• Joining the Do Not Call Registry (or similar): Many countries have national registries like this, designed to keep most legitimate telemarketers from calling. There are apparently over 249 million phone numbers actively registered in the US DNC registry.
• Contact data brokers: These obscure third parties play a crucial role in the phone scam ecosystem. You could contact them directly and follow their unsubscribe processes.
• Blocking known spam numbers: If you respond and it’s a scam or spam, you can make sure you never hear from this number again by blocking it:
• Under iOS: Go to Recenttap the “i” icon, scroll down and tap Block caller.
• On Android: open your Phone app, tap the three dots, go to Call historythen tap a call from the number you want to block. Faucet Block/report spam. You can also configure a call filter in your mobile security solution of choice.

It goes without saying that you should never give out personal or financial information over the phone, or allow someone to remotely download software onto your computer.

What is the government doing?

It was predicted last year, the cost Fraudulent robocalls to victims would increase by 9% annually to reach $58 billion globally in 2023. This should make it a priority issue for governments. In the United States, the regulator has imposed fines of several million dollars in recent years. against robocall companies, VoIP Providers And fraudulent companies.

However, despite the potentially significant penalties for fraudsters, the rewards are often too great to resist. For this reason, it’s best to take matters into your own hands and consider rethinking how you deal with nuisance phone calls.