SUMMERS COUNTY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The Summers County Sheriff’s Office has received several complaints from the community about phone scams.
In an attempt to make the citizens aware and what to potentially look for in the event you receive one of these phone calls, here are some facts about phone scams. This is going to be a long, informative post. So please read it and take note of these facts.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received about 1.25 million fraud complaints in 2020 in which a contact method was identified, and in nearly 1 in 3 cases a call was the swindler’s way in.
Here are some warning signs to look for (according to the AARP)
- Unsolicited calls from people claiming to work for a government agency, public utility or major tech firm, like Microsoft or Apple. These companies and institutions will rarely call you unless they have first communicated by other means or you have contacted them.
- Unsolicited calls from charity fundraisers, especially after disasters.
- Calls pitching products or services with terms that sound too good to be true. Common scam offers include free product trials, cash prizes, cheap travel packages, medical devices, preapproved loans, debt reduction, and low-risk, high-return investments.
- An automated sales call from a company you have not authorized to contact you. That’s an illegal robocall and almost certainly a scam. (Automated calls are permitted for some informational or non-commercial purposes — for example, from political campaigns or nonprofit groups like AARP.)
DO’s
- Do put your phone number on the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry. It won’t stop spam calls, but it will make them easier to spot because most legitimate telemarketers won’t call you if you’re on the registry.
- Do consider using a call-blocking mobile app or device to screen your calls and weed out spam and scams. You can also ask your phone-service provider if it offers any blocking tools.
- Do hang up on illegal robocalls.
- Do slow down and ask questions of telemarketers. Legitimate businesses and charities will answer questions and give you time to consider a purchase or donation. Scam callers will pressure you to commit right away.
- Do independently research travel deals, charities or business and investment opportunities you hear about by phone.
DON’Ts
- Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers.
- Don’t return one-ring calls from unknown numbers. These may be scams to get you to call hotlines in African and Caribbean countries that have U.S.-style three-digit area codes, and you could incur hefty connection and per-minute fees.
- Don’t follow instructions on a prerecorded message, such as “Press 1” to speak to a live operator (it will probably lead to a phishing expedition) or press any key to get taken off a call list (it will probably lead to more robocalls).
- Don’t give personal or financial data, such as your Social Security number or credit card account number, to callers you don’t know. If they say they have the information and just need you to confirm it, that’s a trick.
- Don’t pay registration or shipping charges to get a supposed free product or prize. Such fees are ploys to get your payment information.
- Don’t make payments by gift card, prepaid debit card or wire transfer. Fraudsters favor these methods because they are hard to trace.
The Sheriff’s Office wants to do everything in our power to help you in the event that you fall victim to one of these phone scams.
Unfortunately, offering you this information is as much as we can do considering that most scammers are not even in the county, state or the country. If you receive a phone call that you believe to be a scam, contact the Federal Trade Commission and file a complaint.
