GREENSBORO, N.C. — Remember when everyone still had house phones and telemarketers would call the house? It was so annoying, and it felt like they always called during dinner time. Callers would say something bizarre like you won a free trip to the Bahamas or asking you to pay for some new type of service.
Once most people ditched landlines, the calls didn't stop. Robocalls continue to flood our cell phones, but luckily, we have ways of ignoring them. My cell phone tells me on the caller I-D if a call is potential spam. This update is truly a life saver.
More recently, we're dealing with a new culprit… Spam text messages! Annoying is an understatement. I get about two or three of these bad boys a day.
The most recent messages telling me my "mobile device will be blocked" if I don't click this link. Or my Amazon account has been limited due to unusual activity… click this link to verify your account or it will be terminated permanently.
Often these messages contain weird characters and misspelled words, but some of them are quite believable. You can put yourself in a lot of danger if a scammers is able to lure you into giving out any personal or financial information.
Consumer Reports recommends cell phone users delete all suspicious messages and report them to the FCC or Federal Trade Commission. Let's do our best to report these scams, so we can help put an end to the unwanted messages.
That's My 2 Cents.