Automated computer generated robocalls, such as those which we have all received from “Rachel from card services” that try to induce us to get a new credit card or some other service are a scam that has been with us for many years and despite the best efforts of the Federal Trade Commission, still are victimizing many people.  The calls sound legitimate and if you are not sufficiently skeptical, you can end up having your identity stolen or become scammed out of money for a worthless product being sold.  It is easy to identify a robocall that is a scam.  If you get a robocall, it is a scam.  Commercial robocalls have been banned for many years Only politicians, charities and poll taking researchers are legally allowed to use robocalls.

Recently the Federal Trade Commission and the Florida Attorney General commenced legal action against Life Management Services, accusing the company of operating illegal robocall scams in which they offered non-existent credit card interest rate reduction services and credit card debt reduction services that also were bogus.  Those people falling for this scam paid between $500 and $5,000 in upfront payments for which they received nothing, according to the FTC.

TIPS

The best way to avoid becoming a victim of a robocall scam is to merely hang up as soon as you hear that it is a robocall on the other end of the line.  Because commercial robocalls are illegal, you know immediately that the caller is disregarding the law and therefore should not be trusted.  Some robocalls instruct you to press certain numbers to be taken off of their caller list, but this is another scam.  Doing so will generally only let the caller know that they have contacted a legitimate number and will keep calling you.  There are a number of steps you can take to block these calls including apps that can be used to block robocalls to your smartphone.  Some smartphones have call blocking capabilities built in as a feature of the phone so you can also check this out as an option.  You also can contact your phone service carrier for various options that they all provide to block calls.