Most of us are used to receiving at least one phone call a day from an unknown number. In fact, it’s a good day if that’s the only unsolicited call we get. And despite warnings not to answer calls from strangers, we often pick up just in case—especially if we think there’s a chance it could be important. But if you are prone to answering the phone when you see an unknown number, it’s important to know how to tell if the person on the other end is trying to scam you. Now, authorities have issued a new alert in an effort to help keep you safe. Read on to find out what you need to be listening out for.
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You might have experienced a momentary lull in phone scams when the COVID pandemic first started, but sadly, the situation has gotten worse since then. “We saw the first major drop in robocalls [in 2020] because call centers were closed, but now robocalls are exploding,” Alex Quilici, CEO of robocall-block software developer YouMail, told AARP in May 2022.
According to YouMail, robocalls in the U.S. hit an all-time high in Oct. 2019 at an estimated 5.7 billions calls before dropping to 3 billion a month in the spring of 2020. Over the past year, however, that number has shot back up, with robocalls averaging around 4.1 billion per month. “Having computers dialing a bunch of numbers is a fast, efficient, and…
