Mobile phones are now a huge part of our lives, helping us complete many tasks such as receiving calls, sending emails, storing important documents and online banking. However, since our phones can be used for storing a lot of sensitive information, they’re often targeted by scammers.

Scam calls have continued to become more and more prevalent over the past few years, and many people have ended up losing all of their savings due to these insidious schemes. To protect yourself from these phone-based scams, here’s what you should do.

Check unknown numbers online

If you receive a call or text from an unknown number, you should always check this number on an online phone number lookup database before interacting with this person at all. These online phone number databases are expanding all the time as people report new unknown numbers, so you’re likely to find comments from other users if you type in the number you encountered. These comments will tell you whether people have had positive or negative experiences with this phone number, which will indicate if it’s a scam or not. Therefore, by using these databases, you can easily check if a number is likely to be related to a scam, which will help you block these numbers and avoid calling the scammers back.

Ignore unknown numbers

The next safest option is to just ignore all unknown calls and texts entirely. This is potentially the easiest way to avoid scammers, as you won’t be trying to figure out if a number is safe or not. However, be aware that some scammers use a technique called spoofing, which means they can make their number appear to be a familiar number (e.g., your bank’s number) when they call you. This means that you still have to be aware of potential scams even if you ignore all unknown numbers.

Never click on suspicious links

Text scams usually rely on sending you a link that installs malware on your device or leads you to a webpage that’ll harvest any sensitive information you type into it. Therefore, you should always be wary of links that are sent in texts, even if the sender looks legitimate – remember that scammers can imitate trusted organisations. If you need to visit a webpage, it’s better to simply access it yourself via your browser than click on a link provided to you. If it’s necessary to click on a link that’s been sent to you, make sure you thoroughly check the text for anything suspicious and only click if you’re sure it’s legitimate.

Never give sensitive information

To stay ahead of scammers, remember to never give away sensitive information (e.g., bank details) on the phone. Scammers will try various methods to force you to give up this information, such as intimidation, false emergencies and promises of fake prizes, but remember to stay calm and think about the situation logically. Scammers try to overwhelm you with extreme situations and then push you to act immediately, but if you can spot these signs, you can avoid becoming one of their victims.

Phone scams are becoming increasingly common. Follow these top tips to protect your finances and personal information.