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Receiving spam calls is a widespread problem. In 2022, Americans received 50.3 Billion Robocalls, which is ever-growing.
Scam calls are not just annoying, but they can be dangerous and deceiving. Scammers make these calls sound so legitimate that nearly 70 Million Americans lost their money to scam calls.
How do Scammers get the numbers?
Scammers can get your number through multiple ways.
Buying Phone Number Lists from Data Brokers
Data brokers are the companies that buy and sell personal information. It includes emails, house addresses, and phone numbers as well.
Most online websites require users’ personal information for shopping or other purposes. Data brokers sell this information to other organizations.
These organizations then make calls to targeted audiences. Deliberately or not, these data brokers may sell the phone number list to scammers.
Scammers then make fraudulent calls to deceive people, pretending to be FBR or a bank representative.
Stealing Phone Numbers From Websites
As mentioned above, websites require the personal information of the users. The personal information includes phone numbers for contact purposes.
Scammers use scraping software to scrape phone numbers from websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. After generating a list of phone numbers, scammers make phone calls.
Phone Numbers Lookup Services
Scammers use phone number lookup services to target specific people. Lookup services collect databases of phone numbers through online directories, public records, and online information.
Scammers will look for the phone numbers of specific targeted audiences from these sources.
For example, they will look for the phone number of account holders at a certain bank and then make scam calls pretending to be bank representatives and requesting sensitive banking information.
Spoofing
Spoofing is a common technique used by hackers to trick people. Scammers, via this technique, change the caller ID details when they call the victim.
A phone call is coming from a different number than it actually is. It seems to the victim that they receive calls from legitimate authorities, such as a well-known company, and they respond.
Hacking Databases
Scammers hack the databases of organizations and even vulnerable websites. When scammers gain access, they steal the personal information of employees, customers, and online users.
For example, scammers hack a renowned company’s website’s database and steal its customers’ phone numbers.
They make calls pretending to be the company’s representative and deceive the customers by claiming their parcels have been put on hold due to insufficient funds.
What are the Different Types of Spam Calls?
The scam calls are increasingly getting more sophisticated, making it difficult for people to identify them. The rings are of various types:
Telemarketing Calls:
On average, companies make 52 Cold Calls per day to sell their goods to customers. Scammers find customers who want to buy a particular item by checking different websites.
They scrape the phone numbers of those users and trap them into buying the product by offering them half of its original price.
RoboCalls
Since 2018, 45.87 billion robocalls have been sent to American phones. Robocalls are automated phone calls to deliver messages to many customers at once.
Most of these calls are illegal and designed to deceive customers. Scammers sometimes don’t even look for phone numbers from data and randomly try different combinations of numbers, hoping they will hit a target.
Grandparent Scams
Grandparent Scams are prevalent these days. Scammers obtain personal information about families from public records, then place fake calls to grandparents, falsely claiming that their grandchildren are in an emergency and need money.
Lottery Scams
Scammers try to woo people after fooling them into believing they have won the lottery.
To win the prize, they must pay taxes to claim it. Naive people who fall into the trap pay the amount, and the scammers disappear.
Risks of answering a Spam Call?
Merely answering a scam call will only get you into trouble if you comply with the scammers’ instructions. Scammers persuade people to give out their personal information and transfer funds.
Some may also ask victims to download certain phone apps to get authorized access.
Thus, you won’t get deceived by JUST answering a scam call.
There are several risks that you expose yourself to by answering a scam call:
Financial Scams
Scammers strive to convince the victims to send money by selling them a product or service that doesn’t exist. Some may also emotionally manipulate people into giving to charity.
Identity Theft
Scammers try to steal victims’ personal information that they use in illegal ways. Once they have all the relevant information, they may open new accounts in the victim’s name and make fraudulent purchases.
By stealing personal information, scammers also ask for loans from your bank.
Open Room for Other Scams
Scammers work in a network. They target victims who are vulnerable and can be susceptible to new scams.
When a victim entertains a fraudulent call, other scammers get to know that this number is activated. This way, they continue to target the same person.
Tips to Protect Yourself from Spam Calls
Here is how you need to protect yourself against spam calls
Stay on Guard
If you receive a call from an unknown number, pay attention. Disconnect the call immediately if the call is from an unknown person. Refrain from pressing any keys on the phone while the call is going on, as it will notify the scammers that you are active.
Never Share Your Personal Information
Spam Calls are designed to deceive people into sharing their personal information. If a caller from an unknown number asks you for personal data like your credit card number or bank account information, hang up immediately.
Always remember that authorized banks never ask for their customers’ sensitive information.
Verify the Caller’s identity
If you are unable to gauge if the call you received is legitimate or not, you can confirm the caller’s details by checking the organization’s phone number mentioned on their website.
Inform the Authorities
If you suspect that the call you received is fraudulent, immediately report it to the authorities. They will track down the scammers.
Your information will help authorities protect other people from such scams by developing prevention strategies accordingly.
Most importantly, it will assist in identifying new scams as well. You can also file complaints with law enforcement if you are scammed out of money.
Protect your Devices
Practicing caution is essential, but if you activate scam call blocking on your phone, the chances of receiving scam calls will drastically decrease.
Now let’s explain how you can block spam calls on your iPhone and Android devices.
How to Block Spam Calls on iPhone
In the iPhone, there are multiple settings that you can employ to keep yourself safe from fraudulent calls.
Silence Unknown Calls:
- From your homepage, go to settings.
- Scroll down and tap on the Phone.
- Then, tap on Silence Unknown Callers and turn it on.
This feature can be a great tool for some people. However, if you run a business and entertain clients via phone calls, you must use another method.
Silence Junk Callers:
- From your homepage, go to settings.
- Scroll down and tap on the Phone.
- Tap on Call Blocking and Identification.
- Turn on Silence Junk Callers under the Carrier Call Identification option.
It is a carrier-specific option; if you don’t have it, it’s not enabled by your carrier.
Do Not Call Registry
If you run a legitimate business, this method will work for you. It will not eliminate all of the spam calls but can be advantageous to some extent.
- Go to Safari and go to donotcall.gov
- Tap on the Register Your Phone Option.
- Next, tap Register Here.
- Enter your Phone Number.
- An email will be sent to you to confirm your registration.
Spam Caller Apps
Carriers offer spam caller apps to their subscribers, but these apps might be paid. You can spam caller apps for free as well.
- Go to the App Store.
- Search RoboCalls.
- You will get multiple options to choose from. Click on the best option that suits you.
- After installing the app, open it.
- Enter your phone number and enable Scam Protection.
- You will be directed to the phone settings.
- Tap and turn all the switches on.
- You authorize the app to block bogus calls by turning on the controls.
How To Block Spam Calls on Android
Android devices have built-in features to limit the spam calls. It only takes a few steps to block the scam callers.
- Open the Phone app.
- Click on the three dots on the top right corner of the screen.
- Next, click on the settings panel.
- Tap Caller ID and Spam.
- Enable Filter Spam Call. You can enable the Verified Call option if you run a business.
- Then click Blocked Numbers and help unknown to block calls from unknown numbers.
Just like the iPhone, you can block spam callers by installing Spam Caller Apps and enabling them on your phone.
How to Block Spam Calls on Desktop
Due to changes in communication practices, people communicate with each other on laptops and computers, especially for business and educational meetings.
Traditional phone lines are no longer used to make calls. Platforms like Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams are being used to communicate effectively with one another as they support both audio and video calls.
You may get spam calls on these platforms.
Thus, protecting your systems from hackers and scammers is very important. Apply the tips mentioned and stay safe from spam calls.
Also, use a reputable VPN like PureVPN to filter out the spam traffic while using the internet.
Purevpn will help you hide your IP and true location to dodge the scammers. It can also generate a dedicated IP address specifically for you, so have a secure traffic tunnel reserved only for you.
Scammers cannot spoof their caller ID when the traffic is encrypted and routed through a different tunnel. This way, you will protect yourself against malicious intent from the internet.
Will There Be An End to Spam Calls?
To give a specific answer, no. We must coexist with the scam calls while learning to defend ourselves from them. People need to be aware that with knowledge, these scammers are getting better and bigger every day.
Thus, they need to be more on guard. Increased awareness is the only way to protect yourself from being scammed.
It is up to you how much caution you practice regarding the information you share and how you handle unwanted calls.
Anas Hasan
October 13, 2023
7 months ago
