Is this call coming from a scammer? 6 ways to know

There's no way around it, Americans are inundated every day with nuisance and scam calls: about 50 billion of them per year, according to call-blocking app YouMail (the Federal Communications Commission says 4 billion/month, which is right in the same ballpark). Even that's not the whole picture, because it only counts automated robocalls, and not the ones made by actual humans. 

Now, not all of those calls (and texts) are scams, Spokeo says. Some are legitimate, and some are just a bit shady. But enough of them are scams that some kind of scammer phone number lookup would be really, really useful. The good news is that there are several ways to tell if a call or text comes from a scammer, including—yes—ways to look up the phone number.  

Scam Calls and Texts Are a Big Problem

You'll see slightly different numbers, depending on the source you look at, but YouMail estimates the number of scam calls at about 30 billion a year, or 60% of all robocalls. In 2022 the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported that call center fraud accounted for about $1 billion of the year's $10 billion total losses to fraud. The FCC's Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book for 2022 doesn't break out telephone-based fraud specifically, but imposter scams—scammers pretending to be the police, or Amazon, or the IRS, or your bank—were the most common form of fraud and were second only to identity theft in the total number of complaints. Those scams usually (but not invariably) take place by telephone, so it's another strong indication of just how big the problem is. 

There are a couple of complications that make this even more damaging. One is that scammers can pretty easily spoof your caller ID, making it look like the call comes from a legitimate number. Another is that scammers have embraced text-based scams because we're much more likely to open a text than an email, and because we aren't as likely to be suspicious of texts. 

The news isn't all gloom and doom. Most of the same sources point out that robocalls have actually declined somewhat over the past few years, since the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act (aka "that new robocall law") gave regulators and law enforcement a whole new set of tools to work with. Even so, it's mostly up to individuals to protect themselves. 

Is This Number a Scammer? How to Check

The good news is that however the call or text arrives, or whatever it says, there are plenty of ways to identify scammer phone numbers. Let's take a look at some of them.

Check the Real Organization's Website

A good starting point, if you receive a phone message or text that seems dubious, is to check that company's or agency's website. Companies like Apple and Amazon, and government agencies like the IRS, all have excellent pages to help you recognize scam calls and texts when you see them (because they're among the most-impersonated by scammers). 

Know What the Real Organization Will and Won't Do

Similarly, those websites will usually explain to you—on the same page, or one that's linked from it—some tell-tale signs that you've been contacted by a scammer. The IRS, for example, will never call you about your tax status without sending you a letter first. Your bank will never ask you to verify your account number and PIN over the phone. The police will never call and threaten to arrest you, because why warn you in advance? 

Most importantly, legitimate organizations won't harass you, berate you or threaten you with penalties or jail time. Some of the sketchier collection agencies might walk that fine line (there are laws limiting what they can say or do), but you won't get that kind of treatment from government agencies or companies you deal with. 

Learn the Characteristics Most Scam Calls/Texts Share

Almost all scam calls and texts share a handful of common characteristics, and once you know the combination it's hard to be fooled. These include: 

• Huge pressure to act quickly. It may come in the form of a "carrot" (a limited time offer, an increase in your Social Security Benefits, a lottery win) or a "stick" (threat of account closure, collections action, even jail time or deportation), but there's always a plausible reason for you to act right now.  Admittedly legitimate companies often run time-limited offers, from a special burger at McDonald's to the weekend sale at your supermarket, but not typically in the form of a high-pressure text or phone call. 
• There'll be a callback number on your voicemail, or a link in a text. Often the whole point of the initial call is just to con you into calling back at a given number, or to click on an included link. The phone number inevitably rings to a call center run by the scammers, and links will typically take you to a bogus site (or bogus app download).  You may think you're fixing your Netflix account or doing some routine shopping, but you're really providing scammers with your payment information or private data. Pro tip: Some recent scams now use those square QR codes, rather than links, but the end result is the same. 
• Insistence on a specific form of payment. What do gift cards, wire transfers, Venmo, and cryptocurrency transactions have in common? They're all hard to trace, hard or impossible to reverse, and hugely popular with scammers. Legitimate businesses (and especially government agencies) won't specify one of these payment methods, so that's a "smoking gun" that you've got a scammer on your hands. 

Those are just a few of the things you can expect from a scam phone call or text. For specific examples you can turn to sources like the Federal Trade Commission's Phone Scams page, the FBI's Scams and Safety page, the AARP, or the BBB's Scam Tracker page. At the time of writing, for example, one of the hot scams is imposters pretending to be family members in trouble and in need of money (for bail, or after an accident). It mostly targets seniors, but anyone can be a victim. 

Look At the Incoming Call's Area Code

This may seem like an odd one, but some area codes get used by a lot of scammers (Spokeo compiled a list of those in a previous article). It doesn't mean that every call coming from those area codes is automatically a scam, but unless you live there or have family there you can probably ignore those calls or texts. 

Google the Number

Yup, sometimes it's just that easy. If you search that incoming number on Google (or the alternative search engine of your choice), you may find search results complaining about fraudulent or harassing calls from that number. It's especially helpful if you include the word "fraud" or "scam" after the 10-digit phone number itself. 

What to Do When You Receive Scam Calls or Texts

If you receive calls or texts that are likely to be scams, you have some options. In the case of calls, your best option is simply to hang up and not engage (it's tempting to mess with them, but probably not in your best interest). In the case of texts, just ignore and delete them. In either case, you can then block the number so future calls or messages won't come through. 

It's even better to just not answer those dubious calls in the first place, but it can be hard to do if you're looking up the number manually. If you want to screen scammer phone numbers in real time, there are apps available that let you explore call-screening and -blocking options available from your phone carrier. 

A few other things for your to-do list: 

• Add your number to the Do Not Call registry. Scammers and "shady but sorta legitimate" callers will ignore that, but you don't want to talk to them anyway, so it weeds out most of the potentially troublesome calls (there are also some classes of legitimate callers who are exempt from the DNC rules, so this isn't foolproof). 
• Report or forward the number (or text) from a potential scam. You can report it to the FTC via the DoNotCall website if you haven't fallen for the scam, or the ReportFraud site if you have lost money. Other avenues for reporting scam callers are the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and the customer care or fraud prevention teams at major companies like Apple, Amazon, or Microsoft. 
• Contact your bank, the credit reporting agencies, and local law enforcement if you've lost money to scammers; or think you may have given up private information to them (leaving you vulnerable to identity theft). Spokeo has previously written about identity theft recovery in general, rebuilding your credit in the aftermath, and—if you're really lucky—pressing charges against the identity thief. It's outside the scope of this article, but useful information if you need it. 

The key to not being victimized is a healthy degree of skepticism. Don't take the caller's word for things. Don't click on links or scan QR codes. Don't let panic (or greed) cloud critical thinking skills. Remember, Americans literally receive billions of scam phone calls every month. It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you.