We hear 'they' are cracking down on phone and email scams - but they still keep coming! Alex Quilici of YouMail says shutting down the scammers isn't simple. "The only folks going after these guys are states Attorney Generals. And it takes a long time to shut them down - especially if they are doing it from a foreign country." He says we're down a billion scam-messages-a year since 2019...But the bad guys are constantly honing their craft. "Everybody is trying to help consumers. Carriers, law enforcement, regulators. But --- consumers need to do their part. That means downloading and running scam blocking apps. They will do a lot to make it harder for the robo-callers to make it through."
Major Hangup: Robocalls Are Worse Than Ever!
Quilici says they're fighting a constantly changing opponent. "Scammers are what we call 'omnichannel.' They will try to get to you through email, text, phone messages. And - they're pretty good marketers! They test different messages to see what gets the highest response rate!" Quilici also says to keep your guard up, especially during this holiday season. " What we're seeing right now is a boat load of robocalls like Your iPhone is ready for delivery. Press 1 if you didn't order it!" Don't Press One!
If a robocall gets just half of one per cent (00.05%) response - the scammers still make money.
photo:GettyImages
Beware Robocallers and Scammers: calls, texts, emails.Photo: Getty Images