As I previous wrote, the One Ring scammers steal your money by calling you, letting the phone ring once, and hoping you’ll call back. The problem is that the numbers are pay-per-minute numbers. The FTC has updated their information on this scam with the most used area codes. They are: 268,284,473,664,649,767,809,829,849, 876. Calling back one of these numbers could cost you $20 or more.
Bottom line: if you get a call from a number that you don’t know, don’t call back.
There’s yet another new scam out there: You get a call to your phone and it rings once. You don’t recognize the number but you think, maybe it’s a business call or something important, you call it back just to check. This could cost you money.
The number may be a premium number, meaning that you will be charged a fee for every minute you are on the line. Remember the 900 numbers for dating services, etc. that use to be advertised on TV. This works the same way. Now the numbers are no longer so obvious as to begin with 900. You can find a full explanation by the BBB here.
Bottom line: if you don’t recognize the number, don’t call back. If it was really important the caller would have let it ring more than once, or they might have tried to call back, or they would have left a message. If you still think it might be legitimate google the area code, that should tell you if it’s coming from a real place or if it’s a premium number.
I’ve received calls about having to refinance my mortgage; press 1 to accept the First Alert system that someone bought for me; a Nigerian prince left me money; and a friend is stuck in Istanbul and needs money to avoid jail.
The call I received today was a new one to me: “Hello, Sir. My name is ________. I’m from the International Computer Monitoring service and we’ve received automated reports from your Windows computer that it is not functioning correctly.”
“Really,” I said. “When do you receive this report?”
“Just today.”
“Wow. I haven’t had the computer on for a few days.”
“Oh, well, the reports can take up to five days to get to us.”
And on this went until he hung up on me.
Bottom line, total scam. He wanted access to my computer probably to install some sort of malware and to charge me money for the experience.
David's Tech Concierge 