Take Simple Actions to Prevent Phone Scams & Protect Yourself If Scammed
Take Simple Actions to Prevent
Phone Scams &
Protect Yourself If Scammed
Here is a quick action plan checklist if you feel you
have been scammed or your identity compromised.
- If you’ve been scammed, notify your bank. If a scammer has any part of your account number, close it immediately. Open a new account with new account number.
- Contact the 3 credit bureaus: Experian 888-397-3742, EquiFax 800-685-1111 & TransUnion 800-888-4213 and post a fraud alert statement. Freeze your Credit Bureau Report (CBR) if you are not opening any new credit cards or have any major purchases.
- Contact your phone company and if you don’t have it, get Caller ID. Tell them you are a senior citizen and had a fraud/scam attempt. There are special low-cost programs to help cover the cost of Caller ID.
- If you have Caller ID, give the phone number used by the scam caller to the phone company and have the number blocked.
- Add your phone number to the Do Not Call List. Register each phone number you have by calling from each number (cell phone and home phone) 888-382-1222
- Call the police or sheriff to at least file a report. If enough people call in, they will pay more attention. We can track the scammers by zip codes they are targeting.
- Notify your local newspaper; write a letter to the editor.
- Notify your local TV and radio stations. Many of them will report your incident in their broadcasts as a Community Service.
- Call your local Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) & Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) to report healthcare fraud at 855-613-7080.
Remember, we can only stop them with your help. Together we can win this!
