Robocalls: What You Should Know
We used to get 3-4 robocalls per week, except during election season. But now we're getting 10+ robocalls each day on each of our mobile and land lines. 😠 Admittedly, some robocalls are beneficial -- pharmacies and doctors use robocall reminders. But the majority of them are just spam. Private analyses shows that U.S. consumers are receiving 4 billion robocalls per month. The so-called DO NOT CALL registry is useless because scammers couldn't care less about it. So what can you do?
I let my phone go to voice mail unless a) I recognize the caller or b) it's a call from my local area. But that's not reliable due to widespread spoofing now.
1. If you don't recognize the caller, or they don't leave a voice message, block the caller.
2. If you do pick-up and the caller asks, "can you hear me, can you hear me?" Do not say "yes." Instead say "I hear you, who is this?" Or "no" and hang up. Scammers are fishing for a "yes" so that they can bill you for something you don't want. Don't fall for it.
3. If caller says, "Press 1 to speak with customer service or 2 to be removed from our call list," DON'T press any numbers. Hang up. Pressing numbers means they reached a live person which puts you on a hot list. Or worse, they sell your number to other scammer lists which results in more robocalls.
4. If caller asks for payment by gift card, say no and hang up. It's likely a scam.
5. Report robocall abuse to your phone company and the FCC Consumer Complaint Center. If you've been scammed, report it to local law enforcement.
6. Ask your phone company if they have robocall blocking service. If they don't, urge them to provide one.
The FCC has formed a task force to reduce robocall abuse. Find out more about it below.
https://www.fcc.gov/spoofed-robocalls
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