Robocall scams more prolific than ever
Robocall spam has surged to 12 billion calls per month globally. Bank account, credit card and extortion are common scams, according to Hiya, a company that makes apps to fend off unwanted calls.
UK, Spain, Italy, France and Argentina were the countries with the most robocalls. Like spam, robocalls have proliferated because scammers get just enough victims to rake in profits. The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have been looking at ways to curb robocalls, which are one of the top consumer complaints in the U.S.
The most common scams include the following:
- Bank account scams where callers pretend to be an official from a financial institution and request information to get access to accounts.
- Extortion and kidnapping. Callers call random numbers and request payment to return a kidnapped friend or family member.
- Credit card scams where callers pose as a bank official and phish for card details.
- Wangiri Scam, also known as “One Ring,” is a move where there are calls to entice a victim to call back international numbers. Victims are then charged premium rates for the call.
- Neighbor scam, which refers to the use of voice over IP to mimic local numbers and trick victims to answer.
Those scams vary by country. For instance, there’s a solar energy robocall scam in Italy where fake utilities ask for information. Scammers enroll victims for services that don’t exist.
I suggest you send this reminder to your users. Feel free to edit, copy/paste:
“Bad guys are automating robocall scams worldwide. It’s a rapidly growing type of fraud. They have a variety of attacks you need to watch out for. Here are a few examples:
- Bank Account and Credit Card Scams that claim to be an official of your bank or card company
- Extortion scams that request payment for a kidnapped family member
- Callback Scams where you are tricked calling back to a very expensive international number. Think Before You Pick Up!
Full story at ZDNet: https://www.zdnet.com/article/robocall-scams-surge-to-85-billion-globally/
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Cyber Safety net is a KnowBe4 partner. Reposted with permission from https://blog.knowbe4.com/scam-of-the-week-robocall-scams-surge-to-85-billion-globally. Cyber Safety Net – Keeping you safe online. See https://cybersafetynet.net/cyber-security-awareness-training/ to train and strengthen your human firewall. See https://youtu.be/UFpFesrcnvY and https://www.knowbe4.com/security-awareness-training-features/ to learn more.