When a criminal impersonates legitimate people or organizations to commit fraud— has risen sharply in recent months. Spoofed calls can appear to be from your bank, the IRS, computer and tech support companies, or even the lottery. Fraudsters often use threats and fear tactics in hopes of forcing victims to follow their directions but sometimes appeal to a victim’s desire for money to lead them to give out information or funds. Some calls even attempt to bait victims into repeating a texted code or saying the word “yes” to use as a verbal agreement for fraudulent purposes.
Call spoofing can be hard to detect as the phone number and caller ID may look legitimate, and it is impossible to tell if a phone number is being masked.
How to protect yourself from spoofed calls:
- Do not answer calls from numbers you do not know
- Do not give personal or financial information over the phone
- Do not read any 6-digit codes sent by someone calling you
- Never give a caller access to your computer or online banking
- Do not allow callers to bait you into saying “yes”
- When in doubt, hang up and call back
