Have you heard about the latest phone scams? Learn about these prevalent threats and warning signs so you can prevent fraud.

Common Phone Scams

1. In a Callback/Voicemail Scam, someone leaves a voicemail requesting an immediate callback, often using high-pressure tactics. If you call them back, they will try to get your personal information or sell you a service. A variation of this is the eavesdropping scam, where they don’t talk directly to you in the voicemail, but you can hear them talking to someone else about you. This raises curiosity to entice you to call them back.

2. Cramming involves unauthorized third-party charges showing up on your phone bill. These fraudulent charges might have generic labels like voicemail or service fee, or they could be for a more specific service that you never subscribed to. They are often just a few dollars in an effort to go unnoticed over thousands of people’s bills.

Read More: See the Better Business Bureau’s tips to avoid phone cramming

3. Juice-Jacking commonly affects travelers. In this scam, criminals load malware into USB charging stations, like the ones you see at the airport. If your phone battery is running low and you hook up to a USB charging station, there’s a chance that a hacker will transfer malware onto your phone. It is better to charge your phone through a regular power outlet, not USB, or bring a charging-only cable that won’t allow data transfers.

4. A One-Ring Scam is when someone calls you, rings once and then hangs up, hoping you’ll call them back. Often they are calling from an international number, and if you call them back you could get hit with high charges that increase the longer they keep you on the line.

5. SIM/Cellphone Cloning is when a hacker discovers your cellphone’s electronic serial number (ESN) and mobile identification number (MIN) and clones this information onto their phone. Then the phone company cannot distinguish between the two phones, so the hacker runs up expensive charges and you get the bill.

6. SIM Swapping can happen when a scammer uses your personal information to convince the phone company to port your number to their phone, again leaving you with the bill. Or it can happen if someone literally gets a hold of your phone’s SIM card and swaps it into their phone.

Read More: See the FCC’s warnings about SIM scams

7. Slamming is when a phone company switches you to their service without your knowledge. This is sometimes the result of a so-called free trial or other promotion with fine print, and it could lead to a higher monthly bill from a phone company you never wanted to use.

8. Smishing, or SMS phishing, is an attempt to get your personal information through texting. You might get a text from an unknown number pretending to be from a trusted company. The text message asks you to click a link or call back, usually with urgency, to try to gather your information and steal your identity.

9. Spoofing is when a scammer falsifies their caller ID information. They might be calling from another country or an unrecognized number, but on your end they can make it look like the call is local. This is an attempt to lure you to answer the phone.

10. Vishing, or voice phishing, is when someone calls you and tries to trick you into giving them your sensitive data over the phone. This comes in many forms, like the “compromised” bank account scam, the fake IRS scam, or the Medicare scam claiming that you need to provide your account details to continue getting benefits.

Read More: Review the FCC’s glossary of scam terms

How to Protect Yourself From Phone Scams

Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself.

• Avoid answering the phone when you don’t recognize the number. Or if you do answer and the call seems odd, hang up.
• Watch for red flags like high-pressure sales tactics pushing you to make an immediate decision. The IRS, Medicare, Social Security and other officials won’t call and pressure you to give them sensitive information.
• Examine your phone bills closely and question any charges that you don’t recognize.
• Sign up for the Do Not Call list online or at 888-382-1222 to decrease your chances of getting spam phone calls.

If a scammer calls you, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

If you lose money from a scam, report it to the FCC online or at 877-382-4357.

Learn more about how to prevent fraud on our website.