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Scam Warning to Recent Widows & Widowers
I received a call from a woman whose husband died recently. She reported that she is constantly getting scam phone calls. The scammers are searching out vulnerable potential victims by reading newspaper obituaries.
Tips:
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Change your outgoing message to state that you do not answer calls from numbers or
names you do not recognize. Legitimate callers will leave a message.
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Identify the phone numbers of people whose calls you DO want to receive. This can be done on your cordless phone handset or cell phone. (Cell phone caller ID only shows the identity of the callers you have entered with the identifying information.)
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Block unwanted phone numbers by using your cordless phone handset or cell phone.
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Sign up for nomorobo.com which will significantly cut down on robocalls.
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If you do answer a scam call by mistake, DO NOT engage the caller. Just hang up and block the phone number. Once you’ve engaged with the caller, they will call again with a different scam.
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Do not list the names of your grandchildren in the obituary since it will make it easy for the scammer to try the infamous “grandchild” scam.