Your phone rings of vibrates, you look down at it, and you see your own number calling you.  No, this isn't some weird urban legend or episode of the 'Twilight Zone.'  It's a scam that's been going on! And according to News 10 abc, it's been happening across the Upstate region.  As reported by News 10 abc, one person got this scam and the scammer on the other end said they were from the telephone company, trying to verify a few things. Sounds kind of sketchy to me.  But, probably easy to get sucked in to, as many of these scams are.

As someone who has been a victim of many attempted scams, here's a few tips I've learned in my experience:

  • Never give out personal information to a random caller
  • If a random 'company' is calling or texting me, I generally do not give any information at all.  I find the legitimate said company, and call their direct customer service line.  If there's a true issue, the legitimate company itself will know.  (For example, my bank texted me once to call them back at a random number.  I called the official customer service line instead and found out this was a phishing scam).
  • Take a minute to think. Could this be real? It's easy to get sucked into right away by reacting instantaneously.  It's good to question what's going on.

Do you have any tips to avoid scammers? If so, feel free to share them with us!

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