You can Google a phone number or use a directory search-style website, but the results are often hit-or-miss. The same goes for Number lookup websites. There’s no one reliable directory for looking up a phone number. But sometimes, I’ll research a phone number, not to find its owner, but to know what kind of number … Read more
No, you didn’t buy a gun. A firearm is not being shipped to you. If you received the email below, please take a moment to realize that it is just The Gun Purchase Scam. As scams go, this is another variant of the Thank You for Your Purchase Scam. That means that there is no … Read more
Ever get a voicemail and wonder why your phone didn’t ring? You should know that it is possible to bypass someone’s ringer, and jump straight to the number’s voicemail-box. Ringless voicemail is a service that’s been around for awhile, but most people don’t know about it. Also known as direct-to-voicemail calls, ringless voicemail has recently … Read more
I didn’t think we needed a specific term for scam phone calls, but here we are. Following in the footsteps of smishing and quishing, we also have the term vishing. Vishing is another portmanteau, created from voice + phishing. When you see or hear about vishing, they’re referring to any phishing/cybercrime carried out over the … Read more
Caller ID spoofing, or phone number spoofing, is important to understand. If you’re not familiar with this practice, let me explain: Caller ID Is Fallible When you receive a phone call, most phones display some identification about the inbound call. You may see: You need to know: The info shown on your Caller ID can … Read more
I just saw some really bad advice on Reddit. Someone suggested that when you take a call from a scammer, you should put some effort into complaining, to waste their time and convince them to not call anymore. Please do not do this. Do not harass a phone scammer. The chance of you convincing a … Read more
Let’s say you have a special voicemail message. Maybe it’s critical to a lawsuit you’re involved with. Or perhaps it’s a precious memory from a long-lost friend. If it’s important to you, then it needs to be protected! Don’t take your voicemail for granted, as it can be deleted or lost, like computer data. If … Read more
An ISP in Wales recently solved their town-wide DSL problem by locating and disconnecting a resident’s old TV. It’s an extreme example of a common problem with DSL service: DSL signal is very touchy and vulnerable to interference. And that interference can be caused by so many different things along your phonelines. If you have … Read more
A common email scam starts with a message, stating you made a purchase, when you truly didn’t. The Thank-You-for-Your-Purchase Scam may appear to come from Microsoft or any number of well-known companies. Click here or here to view some examples of this scam. $500 for “Microsoft Windows Defender Firewall Online”? Many people will miss that … Read more
Some AT&T users are receiving emails and texts this week, telling them to upgrade their phones or lose service. Some people are asking if the messages are scams (because of the grammar and spelling). And others are getting annoyed because their phones are not that old. These messages are legitimate. And yet, they are not … Read more