Tips for Identifying Mobile Scams

Tips for Identifying Mobile Scams

With the huge shift to Remote working, there has also been a huge spike in mobile scams. As employees are syncing their phones to servers and using more work-related Apps like Zoom or project tracking software, hackers have taken advantage of this vulnerability and are targeting mobile phones.

Your work laptop or Desktop may be set up for Security, but we are seeing more and more attacks on mobile phones. Workers are just using their personal phones which some people assume don’t get targeted. It’s important to be just as aware of potential scams on phones as it is on your desktops or laptops.

Here are a few tips in identifying a phone scam;

Unsolicited Calls

This isn’t a new scam by far, in fact, one of the oldest phone scams, however, it’s still a popular method, and it’s currently on the rise. The three telltale sign of a scam caller is if they ask for:

• Personal details
• Financial information
• Remote access to a computer

An example of one of these calls was prevalent in January 2020;

According to FraudSMART, some consumers are getting calls telling them that they have been charged for an Amazon Prime subscription or that they are eligible for a refund for an unauthorised transaction on their Amazon account.

“The fraudster then advises the victim that their subscription was purchased fraudulently and that remote access to their computer is required to provide a refund to prevent this from reoccurring,” said Olivia Buckley, head of the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland FraudSMART programme.

“They are asked to download software and give remote access to their accounts, enabling the fraudster to gain access to the customer’s online banking and making a payment to the fraudster’s account.”

Source – RTE

Robocalls

This is the same concept as the unsolicited call, the only difference is that there is no real human behind a robocall, only an automated, pre-recorded message. The most common robocalls are:

• Charity requests
• Surveys that are not real
• Banks/ Revenue or other institutions of authority

There is also the infamous One-ring scam; the scammers place calls to a wide selection of numbers automatically, which is programmed to hang up after just a single ring. If the recipient is curious enough to call the number back, they are connected to a pricey international call. And during this call, scammers use clever tactics to convince the consumer to subscribe to a paid service or to provide credit card information.

Tips for avoiding Mobile Scams

• Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers
• Caller ID showing a local number – still be aware as caller ID can be easily spoofed
• Never give our private information such as – account numbers, passwords, mother maiden name, etc.
• Be aware if you are being pressured into giving information
• If you get a call from someone claiming to represent a company or a government agency, hang up and call a verified phone number. 
• If you answer the phone and the caller—or a recording—asks you to hit a button to stop getting the calls, you should just hang up. Scammers often use this trick to identify potential targets.

Finally don’t make yourself easily targeted. Never give out your personal phone number publicly, to people you don’t know or include your number on social media. 

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