Although digital transformation is now on the rise with various advanced and more sophisticated technologies, traditional tools such as telephones continue to become scammer’s favourite channel. According to scamwatch, phone scams contribute to 46% of the total scams in 2020 followed by e-mail at 24% and text messages at 14%. According to Statsita, total loss caused by scam calls in the United States in 2019 has reached 10.5 billion US dollars. To prevent this from happening, as well as to protect yourself and your business from data breach, fi0cial loss, as well as the damage to brand and reputation here are 5 tips to avoid being victims of phone scams.

Don't give any personal or fi0cial information

To avoid phone scams, the first thing that you need to understand is legitimate organizations will not call you to ask for your personal information, like your social security, bank account, or credit card numbers. So, if you receive a phone call that is asking you to provide them with your personal information, this must be a scammer. Hang up immediately and do not release any personal or fi0cial information asked by the scammer.

Don't let anyone pressure you to act immediately

One of the oldest tricks in the scammer world is giving pressure to the victim to act immediately. Beware of this and resist the pressure to do anything without having a thorough thinking process first. Legitimate businesses will always give you time to make a decision. If you receive a call from someone that pushes you to make an instant decision right away, that must be a scammer.

Don't make any fi0cial transaction

If you receive a suspicious call from someone, especially from a number that you don’t recognize, do not make any fi0cial transactions in whatever form they are asking you to. Be it bank transfer, sending phone credit, e-wallet, do not make any fi0cial transaction after talking with someone that you do not recognize.

Hang up to any suspicious calls

The safest way to protect yourself from phone scam is to hang up to any suspicious calls and block their numbers. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Legitimate business will contact you in a proper manner. If this is a really important matter, they will send you an official letter and not push you to do anything from phone conversation.

Talk to someone you trust and report to the authority

If you are suspicious after receiving a call, before you do anything else, it is better to talk to someone that you can trust about what happened. Not only that, it is also important to report to the authorities if you experience a phone scam, because it will help to prevent similar things from happening to somebody else.

For business, to reduce the risk of phone scam, you can implement CPaaS Indonesia features like STIR/SHAKEN. This technology will help businesses to combat the robocallers and other potential phone scams. Do not let yourself become a victim of a phone scam and reduce the risk of losing your time, money, and even your identity. Stay alert and protect yourself now!