Your phone rings, and you go through the checklist …

• is the caller unknown, unknown? Nope …
• is the caller in my contacts? Possibly, or no …
• is the caller at least in my part of the world? Looks like a local number, could be legit …

You answer …

“You have won whatever, whatever from insert random company here …”,

‘dammit, these jerks again!’

First of all, write down or remember as many details as you can, and report this. If you’re in Canada you can submit this report to Canadian Anti-Fraud Center at 1-888-495-8501. If you’re in a different part of the world you can easily search for federal anti-fraud agencies. Most important – DO NOT give them any type of personal information.

Whether you scream, yell, curse, argue, try to reason, or ignore and hang up; do not be tempted to block the phone number. Blocking the phone number will keep that particular number from calling you again, but this could be a bad thing. Scammers operate with a list of numbers known to a geographical area, and they use computers to spoof the number you see on call display. What this means is, it appears somebody local is calling you, and they have no idea their number is being used. When you block that number it means that somebody in your local area cannot contact you. This could be a school calling about your child, the pizza place calling you back to see if you ordered that salami and double-cheese, your dentist calling to confirm an appointment, somebody you gave your number to in a club last Friday; I think you get the idea. Just keep your cool, and report it.

Another thing people may be tempted to do is call the number and see why they called, or call the number back and start a verbal assault. They have no idea their number showed up on your phone, so yelling at a complete stranger will just make you appear to have rage issues, or it could get you reported! If you feel compelled to contact a missed call, send them a text and ask if they called you – don’t phone screaming and yelling. Calling other missed calls that don’t appear to be in your area could be dangerous as well – you could be calling a subscription service that charges your phone bill for every minute you are on the phone. This will appear as a valid charge to your phone carrier – you knowingly made the call, it wasn’t a mistake, so don’t expect a refund on your phone bill.

If you feel the urge to call somebody, dial 1-888-495-8501 and report it 🙂

• If you get a call saying you’re a winner – don’t pay any money to collect whatever you’ve won.
• Never wire money to anyone with whom you are not familiar.
• Never provide anyone with personal information such as bank names, bank accounts, or pin numbers.
• Be aware that there are many 3-digit area codes that connect callers to international telephone numbers: Bangladesh 880, Cambodia 855, Hong Kong 852, Laos 856, Macau 853, North Korea 850, Pitcairn Islands 870, Taiwan 886, Jamaica 876