Knock, knock! Who’s there? It’s your beloved winter scam. Again.
Year after year, it’s always the same. When Christmas comes, our phones seem to be ringing more often than usual.
Oh yes. Welcome Christmas, the time of peace, love and spam calls. In December, our giving mood combined with our effort to solve all incoming calls as quickly as possible make us ideal scam targets. And scam artists know that.
So we’ve made some digging into anonymized data provided by the Should I Answer app to predict which types of phone scam will be trending this year. Here they are.
1. Charity calls
In general, charity calls serve a good purpose. You’re given a chance to donate money for a good cause and, in fact, there are a lot of charitable organizations that use your donations to make a real difference in the world. However, donating to charity over the phone has its flaws.
When Christmas comes, we’re easier to be emotionally manipulated with, and charity callers know it. Read our five tips on what to do when a charity calls.
2. Fake gift card offers
Scammers know very well that the chance of getting something for nothing is really tempting. So they hide their true identity behind big brands (like Amazon) and pretend to offer you a free gift card.
Their message looks like this:
“You have received a gift card in the amount of $250. An offer of the gift card is valid until December 7. Take a chance and use our gift card, and as a bonus we will deliver your order free of charge.”
However, once you click the link to redeem your “free gift card”, you download a malware to your phone instead.
What to do? Always purchase gift cards from reputable sources. Better yet, get them directly from the store they’re from and ask them to scan the card to ensure it has the correct balance.
3. Fake FBI calls
In this case, scammers usually impersonate government officials and use intimidation tactics, such as the threat of arrest, to demand your money.
Even though it looks like a real FBI call (after all, you see a real FBI number on your phone’s display, don’t you?), it’s probably just a scam. Scammers are using a spoofing tactics, and, what’s even more important, a real FBI won’t ever threaten you over phone.
4. … and more
This list is far from being complete. An average American gets ten unwanted calls a day, ranging from charity calls through prerecorded telemarketing calls to fake refund offers.
If you don’t want to put up with all these kinds of unwanted calls anymore, you have three options. First, turn off your phone. Second, throw it away (and wait for Santa to bring you a new one). Third, get an effective spam blocker.
We believe in the third option. That’s why we created the new and improved Should I Answer app. For years, it’s been popular with millions of people all around the world. And that’s also the app’s greatest strength.
Get rid of scam calls for free and for good
The Should I Answer app is based on a community spam database (there are 30 000 new reports daily!), so it can block all incoming spam calls for you. It’s also perfectly safe: your data and personal information never leave your phone.
Say goodbye to spam calls and robocalls this Christmas. Try the new Should I Answer app 🙂
Get the app for free (Android)