ALL smartphone owners are being warned over dangerous phone scams.
A leading cyber-expert has revealed the three mistakes you must never make on a call.
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Phone call scams can be devastating if they’re successful.
Crooks could take your money – or steal enough private info to defraud, extort or blackmail you.
What’s worse, some of these scams are particularly difficult to identify, according to Brad Freeman, Director of Technology at SenseOn.
“Scam calls are made by experienced fraudsters and can be incredibly convincing,” Brad told The U.S. Sun.
The first mistake you might make is putting too much faith in caller ID on your iPhone or Android.
This is a key way for scammers to trick you – with dangerous consequences.
“Don’t trust in caller ID, it can be faked,” Brad warned.
“If you need a phone call with your bank call them back using the phone number on the official website.”
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The second mistake is transferring money to a stranger after a phone call.
Often scammers will pose as trusted contacts, official organizations or law enforcement.
But if you receive a request like this over the phone, you should verify it independently first.
That means contacting the organization using details on the official website – and not given to you over the phone.
“The police and your bank will never ever ask you to transfer money to another account for safety,” Brad said.
And the third mistake is handing over one of your one-time login codes.
“Never tell somebody over the phone an authentication code from SMS or which was generated by an app,” Brad advised.
“It could be a fraudster who is performing a transaction and using the code to bypass security verification.”
Someone might claim that they accidentally sent their code to you – but this is a total scam.
If you receive a one-time use code, you must never send it to anyone else.
Otherwise they could gain access to your accounts and wreak havoc.
