Telephone scams are numerous. Certain words or short phrases can quickly catch the eye.
According to the UFC-Que Choisir association, French people receive on average four unsolicited phone calls per week. While these are sometimes simple advertisements, they are also often scams. Some are easy to detect, there are special ten-digit numbers starting with 08, short six-digit numbers starting with 118 or even four-digit numbers starting with 10 or 3 which can quickly lead to suspicion. But today the scams are much better hidden! No longer appearing as hidden or special numbers, scammers are moving closer to classic numbers. Criminals also have more personal information, allowing them to gain credibility.
According to the Spanish National Police, there are certain wordings that should quickly get you to hang up. The authorities particularly noticed that the scammers were posing as banks. A sentence like “I’m calling from your bank. For security reasons, do not verbalize your password. Mark it on the keypad”, should immediately raise alerts. By asking to enter the online banking access code, they will be able to carry out banking transactions without the victim’s knowledge.
It is therefore best to hang up immediately. This is, in fact, identity theft of the bank. “Your bank calls you and you check that the number matches. But no, it’s not her. They pretended to be her so that you wouldn’t detect it,” assured the Spanish police.
In France, the same type of scam is circulating. However, you should know that the bank never asks to communicate confidential information over the phone or by message. You should therefore be wary of any message or voice that asks for a password or bank details.
Other little phrases can sound like scams, especially when they carry news that’s a little too good to be true, such as “we’ll give you your money back” or “you’ve won.” The objective is again to recover bank details.
Recently, scams involving loved ones are also increasing. It’s better to be careful, and be wary of messages claiming to be sent by an acquaintance but coming from a phone other than the usual one. It is also recommended not to call back unknown numbers that have not left a message, as they could be overcharged.