My phone has not stopped ringing recently. Nine times out of ten it is one of those horrid robocalls.
I am registered on the Do Not Call Registry (donotcall.gov) but that doesn’t seem to help very much, as they can only try to stop legitimate businesses from contacting you. But they can’t prevent the scam calls which seem to be drastically on the rise. This summer, it was mostly the ‘IRS’ threatening legal action and telling me that if I didn’t pay immediately I would be arrested. I smelled a rat straightaway, especially as I had just filed and paid my taxes. I can imagine it could be quite believable and scary if you were fairly new to the USA, or you actually did owe a big chunk in back taxes.
Telemarketers are definitely getting craftier and it doesn’t help that the advances in technology have given them the capability to make millions of autodialed calls daily. They can mask their identity too, so it appears on the caller ID as the official number of whoever they are claiming to be! These tricksters once phoned me from my own number! This months top nuisance caller is claiming to be ‘Apple Support’ . So far I have let them go to voicemail even though it is very tempting to answer and give them a piece of my mind. The worst thing about these masquerade artists is that you can’t block them as their real number is usually hidden
It got to the point where I usually kept my phone on silent unless I was expecting a call. But it turns out that there are a few things you can do to combat these swindlers. Firstly, try not to answer as this then confirms that the line is active and in use. If you do, just make sure to never give out any personal information. When in doubt just hang up. And always use the company’s website to find an official number if you need to call them back. One of our members recommended nomorobo.com. This is a paid service but apparently works very well. But do make sure to check with your provider first as I just found out that mine (AT&T ) offers the free fraudulent call blocker ‘Call Protector’. Also worth checking out is the free app ‘Hiya’ (hiya.com).
If you find yourself receiving a lot of spam text messages, you can forward the message to the number 7726 (spells SPAM on you dial pad). It won’t block the number from texting you right away, but it will allow your carrier to look into where it came from and put eventually put an end to it.
I’m not sure that it will override the ‘Presidential Alert’ texts that FEMA (fema.gov/emergency-test-alert) are due to be testing out on us on October 3rd either. The small print on their website says
“Users may opt out of receiving alerts in the imminent threat and AMBER categories but cannot opt out of receiving Presidential alerts.”
These messages are in theory a great idea as it will quickly notify us of national emergencies, but of course lots of people are speculating that Trump may get a bit trigger-happy. Which isn’t that far fetched if his Twitter account is anything to go by.
Let us know if you have any tips, or if you have heard of any new scams we should be on the look out for. It is very easy to fall for them these days, so don’t be too embarrassed if you do become a victim. Just make sure to report it, in the hope that you can help stop it happening to anyone else.
You can drop us a line at info@britsin.la or on social media @BritsinLA.
Cheers!
Eileen
