Tips to Combat Robocalls and Scammers

(StatePoint) Spam and scam calls are the #1 complaint to the FCC. Americans were barraged by over 58 billion scam and unwanted robocalls last year, costing them over $10 billion. This year proves things are only getting worse. As the coronavirus began making news, scammers made an estimated one million or more COVID-19 related calls per day to Americans’ smartphones, and they were just getting started. Scammers are poised to prey on consumers’ growing health and financial fears in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Americans have already lost over $80 million to COVID-specific scams this year, with related losses having increased by 70% from May to June, according to the FTC.

It’s important to keep in mind that anyone can fall victim -- the latest research shows that no one is safe. Millennials, a generation of digital natives, are nearly three times as likely to lose money to a scam as seniors, with more than 40% of twenty-somethings admitting they have. Here’s how to protect yourself: