Imposter Scams Everywhere: What You Can Do!

Michelle Wilson - September 24, 2019

We all use our phones to do just about everything in our daily lives. Not the least of which is to communicate all sorts of our legitimate business transactions. You may find yourself needing to give your bank a call to work out something on your account. Maybe you’ll even take a call from a shipping facility or some other very important outfits like the IRS for example (though… I agree we hate that too!!).

Well guess what? There are scammers out there that specifically target people like us who rely so heavily on our phone communication. Every time trusting people like you give out information over the phone you really need to make sure you are not accidentally giving your information to someone with nefarious intentions.

What Are the Imposter Scams?

Imposter scams are not limited to just the internet. They pre-date the internet by some time. Pretending to be important and trustworthy is the key tools in a scammers bag of tricks.

There is no one list of imposter scams that rules them all. It is ever growing and ever changing. They will, however, generally be categorized by a few different genres. When calling a potential target a scammer might pretend to be:

• Financial Institution –

  Such as a bank or lender

• Government –

  They will claim to be an official, possibly the IRS.

• Low Enforcement –

  They may call and claim to be a sheriff or deputy.

• Charity –

  Often they will represent themselves as a charity to try to bilk you out of your money.

It’s also possible that if you have already fallen for another type of fraudulent scheme, that it might even be followed up with an imposter scam. Bottom line, if you didn’t call the business yourself with a number you obtained officially, then do not give any information over the phone. Simply request that you hang up and let you call them back to ensure your information is secure. Do not take a “no” for an answer. You have every right.

How Imposter Scams Work

Imposter scams are really insanely easy. Basically all the scammer has to do is to get you to trust them as a legitimate business entity that you do business with already. People these days have come to find it a normal occurrence to give out certain information over the phone. In many instances this has included information like a social security number or even a bank account number or credit card number just by being smooth with their words.

In a number of cases a scammer will use simple fear and authority tactics to get you to comply. They may start spouting fancy logistical terms or fancy talk including forms and other lingo that makes them sound legitimate and serious. This is meant to intimidate you into giving them your information. They may pretend to be a bill or debt collector and tell you that you absolutely need to give them money right now or they are reporting the account. This manages to confuse and intimidate even the most level headed amongst us.

And finally in some cases they may use benefits and rewards to get you off your guard. Comply with their requests for information in exchange for a promise of some kind of gain in return. Sometimes they even use charities to get you to give and feel good about it. They will take advantage of your good will and you could soon find your card maxed out or your bank account drained.

Staying Safe

Listen when it comes to staying safe there really is nothing to it. You are the master of your own information and YOU and YOU alone get to decide who and when to give that information. Always remember that you should never give out information to anyone who calls you. You should be making the call to the institution yourself. If they call you and ask you for your details, tell them you will be calling back immediately to take care of it but that you do not feel comfortable giving information over the phone when someone is calling you.

You can also use a service like CheckPeople. With CheckPeople you can use tools like a Reverse Phone Lookup and in seconds find out who is registered to the number that is calling you. If you don’t see official information, you might in fact be talking to a scammer.

Scammers are here to stay. So safe guarding yourself is the only way to not be taken advantage. Stay vigilant and imposter scams can easily be avoided!