You may not know it, but you’ve probably been the target of a phone scam at least once in your life. Your phone rings, and you answer, even though you don’t recognize the number. The person on the other end then delivers the bad news: “You’re being audited by the IRS” or “You owe thousands on your National Grid bill” or “Your granddaughter has been kidnapped and she needs you to wire money immediately for her rescue” or even “You’ve just won the lottery – here’s how to claim your prize”.

Anyone can be a victim of one of these scams – the callers can often be convincing, they have valid sounding credentials, and they somehow know personal information about you that makes it sound legitimate. Though scammers often target the vulnerable – usually older adults – nobody is immune.

The best defense you have against one of these scams is your own gut. Trust your instincts: if something sounds unusual, fishy, or too good to be true – hang up the phone. I have spoken with many victims of these scams who have told me “I thought it was a scam, but then they knew my account number, so I figured it must be real” or “I was suspicious, but the caller ID said ‘Con Edison’, and they can’t fake that, right?” Wrong. They can. Technology today allows scammers to falsify the phone number they’re calling from and to hack into your personal information and access account details.

Some tips I’ve learned about how to recognize a scam:

• If they say they’re calling from the government and you need to give them money over the phone – they’re not, and you don’t. The government is never going to call you and demand payment on the spot.
• If they ask for payment in the form of a money order, cash, or gift cards – it’s a scam.
• If they tell you the police are going to arrest you if you don’t comply – hang up the phone.
• If they give you a phone number to call them back – don’t use it. Check the name of the company that is listed on their website or on your monthly bill, and call that number.

Never give personal information over the phone, including your account details, credit card information, social security numbers, etc. A scam artist will ask you to “verify your account number” or “verify the address associated with your account”, and then either use that to access more personal information about you, or use it to convince you that they are who they say they are.

If you answer a call that seems fishy, but you believe it could be real, let the caller know that you’ll reach back out to the company via their publicly listed phone number. DO follow up with the company – they’ll be able to tell you if someone called you with a legitimate matter relating to your account.

Always feel free to reach out to my office, and we can verify the validity of a call for you. My office number is 718-368-9176 and my email address is [email protected].