Whenever you’re a browsing the internet, you’ll come across some links that would direct you to a product you’d want to purchase. Most of these websites and blogs want you to fill out your information and most of these are spammers disguised as a customer support team. They disseminate your personal information across the internet where anyone can find you. Most of these crooks use neighbor-spoofing technique, which gives the caller an area code so that you’d think it’s your driver or your doctor calling. This can be dangerous with trends of abduction through this method on the rise.
How then do you fight back?
Be mean and persistent
The next time the cashier is serving you and before leaving they ask for your phone, don’t give out. You don’t have to give personal details to earn rewards or for your returns to be processed. Before you sign up for any online service, look for a fine print checkbox where you get an option for no phone number. If they insist it’s necessary, then keep reading and ignore the whole document.
Disguising your digits
If you are out doing your shopping in a physical shop or online and the person or system requires that you give out your phone number, you can generously do so but change a few digits. You can sign up for Google voice, which is a scam-blocking free service that gives you an alternative to your number and therefore whoever calls, is filtered through the system. Sometimes but rarely, will it be overrun and if that happens, you can delete it in a few clicks.
Go private
Most of the smartphones and other mobile devices have an option where you can block numbers you don’t need from your caller ID. However, most spammers know the trick and have a way of getting through it. The best solution would be to turn on the “DO not disturb” mode on your mobile and this would ensure that only your contacts and favorites can get through when they call. Any other number would be registered as a missed call and there you can make a decision whether to call back or ignore.
Ignore unknown numbers
It’s true that most of your customers especially the new ones might have landed on your contacts for the first time and would want to make inquiries on your products or services. Thus ignoring them, you might be missing valuable calls. However, spam calls might cause more damage and therefore the blanket decision would be more feasible. Here, you need to provide an alternative contact through a short message or an email. Any serious person would try to get you through all means. You can also get a specific line where all new numbers would be directed. A particular person in your company who would help determine genuine calls from spam and then can connect them to you would handle this.
Spammers have honed their skills with the improvement of technology. Thus, you must also be careful to block any avenues that might lead to an attack on you or your business. You must develop a strong system to keep off all spam calls and emails from reaching your inbox.
