How Do We Guard Ourselves From Scammers?

My mom took a phone call from someone claiming to be her granddaughter, saying she had been in a car crash, was in jail, and needed help. Thankfully Mom figured out it wasn't her grandchild and hung up. How do we guard ourselves from scammers?

People taking advantage of others is nothing new, but it seems the methods tricksters use are getting more sophisticated. And they’re not just technologically more sophisticated; they’re also getting more clever at quickly building a believable story on the clues we give them during the conversation.

Here are a few approaches to dealing with the miscreants you’re sure to encounter online or on the phone:

• Who’s calling whom? It’s rare to get through when you want to reach a person at a bank or credit card company, so be cautious when they seem to be calling you. In fact, a good habit when you get such a call is to hang up and call the bank or company yourself and ask them about the call you just received.
• No numbers. Unless you initiated the call, never give out personal information, credit card numbers, or account numbers. And if you are contacting your bank or buying something online, make sure the phone number or web address you’re using was taken from something official, such as the back of your credit card or bank statement.
• Spelling matters. In time, especially with the help of artificial intelligence, scammers will use better English, but for now, misspellings in business emails should be a red flag.
• Who’s the sender? Fraudulent email or web addresses will look legitimate but are often off by a character or two.
• Check hyperlinks. Within most email applications you can use your mouse cursor to hover over a link without clicking and see a preview of the page it will open. If the preview looks suspicious, mark the email as spam and delete it. When texting, avoid clicking on links from unknown senders, and don’t respond.

Perhaps the most helpful advice is to talk to others—at church, in small groups, with family—about the time you were scammed or almost scammed. There should be no shame when your experience helps another.