It is increasingly common to hear friends, acquaintances and relatives tell that at some point they have received strange calls from people and/or companies that offer them any type of service, product, generous job and academic offers that at first impression they sound very attractive, but when you dig a little into their details they turn out to be confusing and even ridiculous. That is perhaps one of the main signs to turn on, for sure, because whoever is on the other end of the line is trying to rip you off.
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At first they sound quite convincing, since they have almost all of your geographic location information, your activities, tastes, preferences, and even detailed data on your financial and credit life, which makes their proposals more credible. However, keep in mind that technology today allows much of the information you share on social networks to be available to millions of people, who can use it for good or bad.
McAfee, software firm specializing in computer security, has been given the task of detecting those signals that people must take into account to detect those who try to defraud them through telephone calls.
«Phone scams mimic the real calls you might expect to receive. Callers may do so in a friendly manner, others demand urgent action, and still others use intimidation. In all cases, the goal is to obtain personal information and money,» the analysts warn. of said firm.
For this reason, they undertook the task of detecting the ‘modus operandi’ of the criminals who use this channel to harm millions of unwary people, but also, provide them with some tools to avoid being victims of these.
Alerts to be aware of
McAffe found four most common ways in which criminals are trying to get hold of your information, and especially your information for unhealthy purposes.
The first of these are tech support scams. The person who calls your telephone interlocutor offers technical help to solve a problem that he does not know about. Scam usually comes to the elderly.
Another modality is charity scams. In these calls they ask for urgent money to help people who need it desperately.
One more, according to the company, are the credit repair scams. Through these we offer to fix or eliminate credit problems and debts in exchange for money.
The fourth has to do with the extended vehicle warranties. With these, scammers will try to sell you overvalued or invalid auto warranties.
The actions
McAfee experts point out that being attentive to these alerts is key to knowing how to act when faced with them and thus avoiding falling into the traps of criminals, which is why they recommend:
Abort the call. Do not let the caller know that you have reached an answering phone number. By pressing buttons or trying to speak to an operator, you may receive even more robocalls.
Use call blocking. Your phone provider may provide a service to block known spam phone numbers or at least identify them when your phone rings.
Don’t trust caller ID. Phone scams have gotten better at making you think they are a legitimate number by “fake” an ID and show some kind of official name. Some people even claim to have seen calls originating from their own number.
