Survey Reveals Top Five Phone Scams People Fall Victim To In Missouri

With 89% of people in Missouri receiving between 5 and 30 nuisance calls per week, telephone scams are still causing major problems for consumers. The issue has become so widespread that almost a fifth of Missouri adults admit they have been a victim of a telephone scam. The YouGov survey commissioned by CPR Call Blocker, makers of the best selling call blocking device in the US, also revealed the top five scams people are falling victim to in Missouri: • Internal Revenue scam • Credit/loan scam • Automated messages scam • Lottery/sweepstake scam • Missed call scam Many of these scams rely on the victim handing over personal and security details or asking the victim to pay a processing fee or call back on a premium rate line. While many of us are becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to spotting a scam, 17% of those questioned have lost money to scams in the last 12 months. Of those, 23% lost less than $100, 22% lost between $100 and $500, but 27% lost between $500 and $10,000, with 4% were scammed out of over $10,000. Bryony Hipkin at CPR Call Blocker, comments: “Scam and nuisance phone calls continue to be a major problem for consumers in Missouri and it’s often the most vulnerable people in society who are falling victim to telephone scams. Scammers have a real knack of finding people when they are at their weakest and most vulnerable and they really exploit that. I want to encourage people to stay in touch with their senior loved ones. A lot of scammers are using the tactic of getting to know that person, becoming a friend to them and then on the fourth or fifth call they start making the request. “If you’re contacted out of the blue, be suspicious and never respond to an unsolicited call. Don’t assume a caller is genuine because they have information about you such as your account details. Never give out personal information when answering an incoming call and if you’re not convinced the call is genuine, hang up and call back using the official phone number of the organization calling from their website or any paperwork you have such as statements.”