Mobile phones have become inevitable and a major part of our social lives. There is hardly any person today who don’t have access to a mobile phone. In fact, many people rely heavily on their cell phones for business purposes.
But technology is never impermeable, and scammers and thugs are always out there trying to rip you off your hard earned money by collecting your personal data and information. So today, we bring to you some of the most common types of mobile phone scams and how you can avoid them.
- Fake Tax Calls:
Every now and then, you might receive calls or texts from strange numbers asking you to file a tax return. These type of scammers try to convince you that they’re income tax officers and blackmail you with your tax information. Then they offer you to bribe them in order to close you case/ file.
Many innocent people, especially in developed countries where tax laws are strict, end up accepting the bribery offer and transfer a considerable amount in scammer’s account. And because these scammers are mostly from other countries, they can’t be brought to justice in most of cases and you lose you money forever. So, an effective method to ask the caller for more information and tell them that you’ll visit their office for further discussion.
- Missed call scam:
This scam is more sophisticated and advanced. The caller would give you a missed call using a custom built software. And when you call them back, your balance will perish in a matter of seconds as the call back rates would be considerably high.
A quick fix to this situation is that you should never call back a strange looking, unknown number. If anyone has an important business with you, they should call you back themselves. Look for the Permanent solution at the end of this article.
- Fake lottery scams:
These scams might use your email, mobile number or both to contact you. They’ll try to convince you that you’ve won a lucky draw or a lottery. And you need to pay some fees to avail the prize. This is a very old scam, but surprisingly, many people still end up losing their money in a hurry to get the prize. But it never arrives.
Remember that you can only win if you’ve participated in a lottery in the first place, and even if you did participate in one, call their official number to verify. And lastly, lotteries and lucky draws never ask you to deposit a fee to claim your prize, that’s a straight up scam.
How to avoid these phone scams:
Fake tax callers, fake lottery messages and missed call scams have your personal data, and they use your mobile number or other method to contact you. Luckily, apps like Reverse Phone Lookup can be used anytime to get the basic information like location, career other info about the scammer for FREE.
You can use the app to see if the person calling you is legit or a scam. This can be a very handy feature to have on your disposal.
