Blog Staying Safe

How to spot a scam call

The short answer. If a caller pushes you to act right now, asks for gift cards or codes, or says they're your bank or the government and need money, it's a scam. Hang up, then call the company yourself using the number on your card or statement.

You don't need to outsmart scammers. You need one habit: never act on a call you didn't place. Hang up, and call back on a number you trust. That single rule stops almost every phone scam there is.

The three signs

Scam calls come in endless costumes, but underneath they all work the same way. Listen for three things.

  1. Urgency. "Your account will be closed today." "Your grandson is in jail right now." "This offer expires in ten minutes." Your bank, the IRS, and the police don't work this way. Pressure to act right now is the strongest sign of a scam.
  2. Unusual payment. Gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, cash in an envelope. Banks, government agencies, and real businesses never ask to be paid in gift cards.
  3. Secrecy. "Don't tell your family." "Don't hang up." Anyone who asks you to keep a call secret from the people who love you isn't on your side.

What the calls sound like

A few costumes worth knowing. A "fraud department" says your card was used and asks you to confirm the card number. A "grandchild" calls from a police station, sometimes in a voice copied by software. A "computer company" says your machine is infected. The "IRS" says you owe money today. Every one of them ends the same way: they want your money or your passwords.

The habit that protects you

When a call worries you, hang up. That isn't rude. If you think it might be real, call the organization back yourself, using the number on the back of your card, on your statement, or on their official website. If your grandson might really be in trouble, call him, or his parents, at the numbers you already have.

Your phone can help too. Let unknown numbers go to voicemail. Real callers leave messages, and scammers usually don't. On an iPhone, Silence Unknown Callers in the Phone settings does this for you, and most Android phones have a similar setting.

If you already picked up

Talking to a scammer usually costs nothing on its own. The real risk is if you paid, shared a password or a code, or let someone into your computer. If any of that happened, it happens to smart, careful people every day, and it can be put right. We wrote down exactly what to do first, and we can help you through the rest.