Featured Image Credit: Three Spots/Tero Vesalainen
Topics: Technology, Phones
Callum Jones
I think a lot of us are guilty of just texting nowadays rather than taking phone calls... I mean it's easier, right?
Our parents and grandparents would often just phone each other to communicate, as text messages weren't exactly a thing back then.
Unless you are Kelly Rowland of course - as Microsoft Excel is the way to go.
But if you are a bit old fashioned and speak on the phone a fair bit, there are some words you certainly want to be wary of.
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In fact, you should never answer the phone to someone if they ask 'can you hear me'.
As per a report by Reader's Digest, phone call scams have increased by a whopping 118% in the past year.
I think we've all had some type of dodgy text at some point over the past few months, but phone calls can often be a little more difficult to spot a scam.
According to First Orion, millions of Americans have fallen victim to phone scammers using AI looking to steal their money and identities.
Adam Gordon, an instructor at ITProTV who also provides IT training, says all phone scams are "designed to do two things: gain information about you that can be used to impersonate you [through] identity theft, and get you to give money to the scammer."
In one particular phone scam, a recorded voice will ask, 'Can you hear hear me?'
This is when alarm bells should be ringing, as the phrase is designed to trick the victim into saying 'yes'.
"This phone scam is particularly frightening [because] they simply rely on the human behavior of answering a quick question,” says Matthew Shirley, director of offensive cybersecurity operations at Fortalice added.
This comes after an iPhone user 'lost everything' when they downloaded a 'scam' App Store app.
Last month, a fake cryptocurrency app claiming to be affiliated with Bitcoin wallet Leather was circulating and could be found on the App Store.
The app was causing chaos across the web, as it was apparently robbing people of their digital assets.
Published by a developer called LetalComRu, the app uses the Leather logo.
So, it led to many believing the app was genuine and subsequently downloaded the app.
Adding further to the legitimacy, the makers of the app even collected fake reviews, making suspicions even lowered for many.
Apple has since confirmed to iMore that the fake app has indeed been removed.