06/17/2024

Stop Answering Your Phone if You're Sick of Scams

Send unknown calls to voicemail

The first rule of avoiding scam calls is to never answer unknown numbers, and even some known ones.

Curious? Bored? Worried it’s an emergency? Wait the extra minute it takes for the call to go to voice mail, then decide if it’s legitimate.

Unfortunately, every year hundreds of thousands of people in the United States either ignore that golden rule or are tricked into answering. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), people lost $851 million to phone scams in 2023. After email, phone scams are the most common fraud method reported to the FTC.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.