Although many people understand that they need to be cautious online, financial scams exist through the phone lines, too. Some of the most common scams include:
1) Financial information fishing. In many cases, these scams involve someone calling and pretending to be someone else in order to get personal information – such as your credit card number, bank account number, or other information. If someone calls and asks for any such information, hang up immediately.
2) Fake charities, loans, or businesses. Fake charities usually take your money but do not in fact use the cash to promote any legitimate non-profit. Loan scams involve you paying for “guaranteed” personal loans that never materialize. In addition, there are many fake businesses, which charge you money for useless products or for products that never arrive.
3) Fake contests. In these phone scams, someone calls you to tell you that you have won a prize. To collect your prize, however, you are often told that you must send money or give a credit card number. No legitimate prize charges you money for prizes.