Avoiding mobile scam calls has become a part of our daily digital lives. It is specifically when fraudsters continuously develop new tricks to try on people. Although a few scams do not always seem obvious, it’s vital to keep an eye on the latest scams. This is essential because it’s not always easy to recover accounts when they have been compromised. In this article, we will find out the different types of scam calls and how you can tackle the scammers by answering the question, who called me from this phone number?
What is meant by phone scams?
Nowadays, mobile phones are one of the most valued property & cybercriminals know about them. We always have them on our side & we use them to get some of the private information on our lives. We have linked to emails, banking, & other confidential data through our phones, which makes them a perfect centralized target for theft of identity & fraud.
Mobile phone scams aim to deceive you by voluntarily infecting your phone or handing over personal information. Some common types of mobile scams are:
- One-ring scams
- SMS phishing (Smishing)
- Voice mail scams (Vishing)
- Mobile phone virus scams
One ring scams:
One ring scam calls you from an unknown number. It only rings once, with the purpose that you will call back. This scam often works because fraudsters normally bet on your curiosity, which will set aside your critical judgment. The fraud happens by charging a fee when you will make the call, & the scammer gets profits. Such calls can come from an international area code that is part of how they charge the fees. Several times a voicemail can be there to enhance the chance you will react. Beware if you get a voicemail or call from a number you don’t identify or expect a call from.
SMS Phishing:
SMS phishing, also called “smishing,” is where a scammer persuades you to act through text message. Scammers can send Spyware SMS links through these messages, & if you open the provided link, it can infect your device with malware. A few times, the criminal can deceive you through different actions. These actions can be like calling a pay-per-minute phone number, deluding you into a subscription, or trying to extract personal information from you. You can ignore such a message by not opening those links at all.
Phone Vishing:
Vishing, also called “voice phishing,” includes cell phone scam calls that force you to take action, usually by calling or messaging you through a voicemail. Vishing means scammers seeking to impersonate a company or an authentic person to attain your trust. They may show themselves as an official firm or government service and try to convince you to provide private information or money.
Such scams normally try to act while you are with them on the phone. The reason is that they work on the urgency and hope you will react in panic by giving them what they ask from you. Before responding to anything, try to hold on to your emotions and use your intelligence. Extract the relevant information you can rely on, tell them you want to investigate it further and react accordingly.
Mobile Phone Virus Scams:
Mobile phone virus scams show false alerts that claim a virus has been detected on your phone. It mostly comes while browsing a website on your mobile phone. Later the scam directs you to download an “anti-virus” application that is spyware or malware. Once this malicious code enters your smartphone, scammers can hijack your phone or infect other devices. The simplest way to secure from such attacks is to ensure that you have cybersecurity on your mobile phone, like some Anti-virus for Android.
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