Your cell phone, most can’t live without it. It’s your primary communication tool to the outside world, it’s a portable entertainment center when you are bored, and an open line of annoying robocalls and a plethora of scams.

Every day, scammers are getting more and more creative in obtaining your valuable information. They pose as legitimate government agencies and businesses you trust, and even worse, as family members in need.

Robocalls

According to the Robocall Index by YouMail, Americans received 47.8 BILLION robocalls in 2018, that’s an average of 145.8 calls per person. Robocall technology is making it easier for scammers to reach more people faster. Merriam-Webster defines a robocall as: a telephone call from an automated source that delivers a prerecorded message to a large number of people. Now keep in mind that some robocalls are legitimate, it’s your dentist reminding you of your appointment on Monday, or even a reminder about an upcoming appliance delivery. However, most of the time robocalls are unsolicited calls and the person at the other end is trying to get you to buy something, or trying to scam you.

Tips to stop unwanted robocalls and avoid scams:

  • Don't answer calls from unknown numbers. If you answer such a call, hang up immediately.
  • If you answer the phone and the caller or a recording asks you to hit a button to stop getting the calls, you should just hang up. Scammers often use this trick to identify potential targets.
  • Do not respond to any questions, especially those that can be answered with "Yes."
  • Never give out personal information including account numbers, Social Security numbers, mother's maiden names, passwords or other identifying information.
  • If the caller says they represent a company or a government agency, hang up and call the phone number on your account statement, in the phone book, or on the company's or government agency's website to verify the authenticity of the request. Generally you’ll receive a letter or statement in the mail before you get a phone call.
  • Put your number on the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry.Adding yourself to this database is free and your registration never expires, but doing this alone is unlikely to stop all automated calls.
  • Download a call-blocking app.Nomorobo and Hiya are among the hundreds of applications that monitor and block phone numbers used by robodialers.
  • Call your phone company.Ask what tools or products they offer to block scam calls. The FCC keeps a handy list.
  • If you believe you’ve received an illegal call, you can File a complaint with the FCC

Caller ID Spoofing

Every day, scammers are getting more and more creative with ways to get your information. One way they are doing this is called Caller ID Spoofing, per the FCC, “Caller ID spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. Spoofing is often used as part of an attempt to trick someone into giving away valuable personal information so it can be used in fraudulent activity or sold illegally, but also can be used legitimately, for example, to display the toll-free number for a business.”

If you’ve ever received a call from a phone number that looks very similar to yours, then that is Caller ID Spoofing. The FCC calls that “neighbor spoofing” – because people were more likely to pick up a call from a local number or a number that they thought they recognized.

What’s even worse with all the spoofing is that any number can be spoofed, that includes Government Agencies, legitimate Businesses, your friends or family, and even your own number! Have you ever received a call or a text from someone who said that you called them? If so, it’s likely that your number was spoofed.

The good news about call spoofing: FCC rules under the Truth in Caller ID Act, prohibits anyone from transmitting misleading or inaccurate caller ID information with the intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongly obtain anything of value. Illegal spoofers can face penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation. Keep in mind that spoofing is not always illegal, there are legitimate, legal uses for spoofing, like if a doctor calls a patient from her personal mobile phone and displays the office number rather than the personal phone number or a business displays its toll-free call-back number.

Report suspected spoofing

If you think you've been the victim of a spoofing scam, you can file a complaint with the FCC.

Robotexts

What is a robotext? Like Robocalls, Robotexts are automated text messages sent to mobile phones.  Fortunately, Robotexts are currently less of a problem than Robocalls. The reason is that unless you’ve given consent, FCC rules ban text messages sent to a mobile phone using an autodialer.  Even if you have not placed your phone number on a national Do-Not-Call list, commercially you must give your consent to receive texts in writing, and non-commercially (think non-profits or political), your consent must be oral.

Why is there more of a crackdown on robotexts vs. robocalls? It’s easier to trace robotexts vs. robocalls because calls can be spoofed (we’ll cover that next week). Also, carriers are allowed to block illegal robotexts which helps prevent them from even getting to the end user.

What you can do about it:

  • Do not respond to unwanted texts from questionable sources. Many mobile service providers allow you to block the sender by forwarding unwanted texts to 7726 (or SPAM). Check with your provider for details
  • Be careful when you supply your mobile phone number
  • Read through web forms and check for privacy policies when submitting your mobile phone number to any company website. You should be able to opt out of receiving texts, but you may have to uncheck a preselected box.
  • Find out if companies you do business with have policies that allow them to sell or share your information
  • If you have exhausted resources trying to resolve yourself, you can File a complaint