Telephone scammers and solicitors are annoying. They are also pushy, insistent, rude, and sometimes threatening. Once they find your phone number, they share it with other scammers on the criminal web of evildoers, and will never leave you alone again. One useful trick to spot these individuals when they call is to create a Scammer Ignore contact list.
A Scammer Ignore contact list is something developed over time. Whenever a scammer calls, add that number to your telephone contact list under the name Scammer Ignore. If a person calls from that phone number again, you’ll know immediately who is on the other end of the line. How do you identify the caller as a scammer unless you talk with the person? Do your homework.
First, don’t answer a call unless you know who is calling. It’s the safest way to avoid threats, bullying, and underhanded tactics to steal your hard-earned money. Next, open a web browser and go to a website designed for users to share information about unwanted calls. Websites such as http://800notes.com and http://shouldianswer.com are good resources to learn about the source of a call from other people who received similar calls.
When you learn about the nature of the call from these websites, you can store that phone number as a contact in one of the following ways:
- Break down the contact list to specific types of scams, such as Insurance Scammer, Warranty Scammer, IRS scammer, etc. When you identify the nature of the scammer, place that person’s phone number in the appropriate category.
- Place all phone numbers identified as a scam under the same heading called Scammer Ignore.
Why break down the list to specific types of scams? Own Your Defense uses this type of list to answer specific calls when more information about a particular scam is needed as research in a new article. You might use it to track the types of calls you receive from scammers to satisfy your curiosity. However you identify the scammers in your contact list, be sure the name of the list is clear about the nature of the caller. Scammer Ignore takes the guesswork out of who is calling you.
It takes time to develop a Scammer Ignore contact list, and it’s usually not transferable from person to person. The scammers and solicitors who contact you may not have the phone numbers belonging to your friends and family, so sharing your list with them isn’t necessarily helpful.
As you grow your list, it becomes easier to identify scammers when they call. This is important if you must answer an expected call from someone without knowing that person’s phone number ahead of time. If you’ve identified scammer phone numbers in advance of the important call, you’ll be less likely to accidentally answer a call from a fraudster when you pick up the phone, even if you can’t identify the caller beforehand.
Start your Scammer Ignore list today to say “go away” to unwanted phone calls.