The Federal Trade Commission has recently gotten countless reports of scam artists pretending to be cable and internet companies. These fraudsters are so good at deception that even the savviest consumer can get duped.
Despite call-blocking apps, software, and caller ID, scam artists are conning hard-working people like you and me of our hard-earned cash over the phone.
A burner phone can help you avoid calls made by unknown numbers.
(iStock)
A woman recently emailed me saying this very thing happened to her and her husband:
“We just received a scam phone call yesterday addressing my husband by name and claiming to be Cox Cable. We had just canceled Cox cable TV two or three days before, which this caller was privy about. They offered a 40% discount if we reconnected. I inquired about the cost, but before he would give me the cost, he wanted to verify our account and asked for my mother’s maiden name. That’s when the red flag went up. I said, ‘May I call you back in 15 minutes’, with the intention of checking out the phone number and calling Cox Cable. The caller replied that he’d call me back. Once I did a Google search of the number and called Cox Cable, I realized it was, in fact, a scam call. The caller didn’t call back. I followed up with a call to my older parents to warn them about these types of scams.”
“The question in my…
