Repeated calls, often in the evening or on weekends, not only disturb our peace. There is also a risk that behind an unknown number, or worse, a number that theoretically belongs to the bank we use, there is a fraudster who wants to steal our personal data, access to the account and the funds collected there.
Why is it worth checking who is calling before answering a call from an unknown number?
- Thanks to this, we avoid unnecessary conversations that often take a dozen or even more minutes. Surveys, contract extensions, invitations to presentations of pots or bedding – receiving such a phone call, especially if we are not able to firmly refuse, often ends with an increased number of calls from the company in question.
- Protection against spoofing attacks – that is, when a fraudster impersonates a trusted institution, most often banks or state institutions, trying to extort money or confidential data. Your number may have been leaked from websites along with a set of other data, which can make it more credible in your eyes and mislead your vigilance.
- Wangiri scam – where scammers call for a moment and then hang up, hoping that you will call back on an expensive return number. This can generate high phone bills, as these are usually premium numbers from abroad.
The easiest and fastest way is simply to use Google. It will allow you to check in a few moments if other people have reported problems with the number that is calling you. You can do this even while the call is ringing, if you hurry.
Pay special attention to suspiciously long numbers that clearly contain international dialing codes. If you don’t know anyone who lives abroad or is currently there, e.g. on vacation, there’s a high probability that someone is trying to scam you.
Popular area codes often used by scammers include +93 (Afghanistan), +373 (Moldova), +375 (Belarus), +39 (Italy), +53 (Cuba), +675 (Papua New Guinea).
If the Google search engine does not provide us with accurate information about the harassing phone number or we want to find out who it belongs to, we can use websites specially created for this purpose.
The most popular of them are:
- ktoto.info
- nieznany-numer.pl
- odebractelefon.pl
- infonumer.pl
- numerytelefonu.com
- nieznanynumer.pl
On each of these sites we will find a number search engine where, after entering the number, we will see information about the number – who it belongs to, whether it is safe and what opinions other site users have about the caller.
An unknown number does not necessarily mean a scammer. Often, these calls can be from government institutions, a courier, a food delivery service, an online store or a clinic.
We can also supplement the database of unknown numbers with the information we have. Unfortunately, scammers, annoying pollsters or consultants have an infinite number of numbers at their disposal.
Applications that detect suspicious numbers and inform us about attempted fraud or SPAM are also becoming increasingly popular. The most popular of them are:
These applications have large databases, so they can warn us about scammers and telemarketers. In addition to displaying information about the owner of the calling number, they also allow them to be blocked immediately.
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Source: geekweek.interia.pl
