Phone Scams
Some days I feel like simply unplugging my phone, cancelling my number and sticking my tongue out to the world. Seems that every day I get some sort of scam phone call. Here are just a few to be cautious about .
Tech Scams!
Ever get that call from Microsoft letting you know that they have noticed your computer has major issues and they are here to help?? Another is when you go to a website and an audiable message notifies you of major problems and to call the toll free number on the screen. This actually happened to someone yesterday.
The idea here with this type of call or notification is to convince you that you have issues so they can connect remotely. Once connected they will show you, in a very convincing way, that you have major errors. Then they try to convince you that they are here to help and want you to download a program, for a fee!! I have seen the fees as low as $50 and as high as $300. Once they have the program on your system, they have access to everything on your computer remotely. While the programs runs finding all kinds of so called issues, in the background they are stealing data from your system, infecting your computer and turning off any protection programs you may have. THEY GOT YOU!!!
So what should you do?? When they call just hang up. Don't even talk to them. If you engage them it just encourages them to keep calling. The calls are annoying but really no way of getting them to stop. If you let the call go to voicemail or hang up on them, eventually they will stop for a while.
CRA Scam!
This one is a real problem for a lot of people. Here you get a phone call from either the police or CRA telling you that they have a warrant out for your arrest. You owe money and need to.pay it. This alone should send up red flags for you. The CRA would never call you to inform you this way. They would send you a letter in the mail. Police will show up at your door. But this would only happen if you had consistently ignored letters from the CRA.
They are very convincing and can cause you to be real concerned. If you believe that this is real hang up and call the CRA office yourself with a phone number from the CRA website. You will see that the call you received is a scam.
At the end of the day do not be fooled into things. If you have a tech guy or company, call them about the call. If you have a concern related to the CRA call them yourself.
Always remember that the CRA, Banks or really any financial organization will call or email you. Again if you are concerned call them yourself. Ignore the call and emails.
Well I could keep going but I don't want to make this into a novel. Just remember, be smart. Question everything and keep your guard up. You don't get much of anything for free as much as you would like to think so.
