Why you are getting dubious calls from neighbors claiming to be companies doing business with you or promoting scams.
Episode #11-19 released on January 5, 2021
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We all hate Robocalls. The majority of those calls are dubious in nature or out right scams. And with the pandemic, the number of robocall scammers is on the rise and not likely going down any time soon.
The neighbor spoofing robocall method involves the scammer using the first 6 digits of your phone number to try to trick you into answering the call. For many people, a phone number being that close to their own seems legit, like a neighbor calling you.
Unless you are an informed individual, you may not think that such a phone call is a scam and be even less aware how easy it is to spoof a phone number itself.
Anyone can use a computer connected to a phone line and with some software can easily change what the outgoing number looks like allowing virtually anyone to become a robocall scammer overnight. It is important to know what to do to protect yourself.
Many robocalls pose as legitimate companies. Companies we do not do business with are easy to spot as being fraudulent, but what about the others? If you do business with a particular company and someone using a neighbor number calls you claiming to be from that company, hang up, and call the company directly to confirm and if the company is not trying to talk to you, inform their security department of the number that called you. It may be important to help defend others and yourself.
It may be worth noting that using a white list is going to be a better idea that blocking all calls individually as they come in. Most smartphones allow you to now block unknown numbers and numbers that do not come from your address book. The more people use this method, the better.
However, the principal issue is how phone numbers are identified. We have SSL certificates for websites, but what about phone numbers? There is an entire series of security issues related to identity fraud when it comes to spoofed numbers. And worse yet, it is not completely unconceivable that one day, the scammers calling you will be spoofing valid numbers and ripping people off.
It is time for a change in how security is addressed at every company to ensure the security of all of us.
Host : Steve Smith | Music : | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Dot Net