Phone Scams Are Continually Evolving

Even though more and more people are moving away from their landlines to mobile phones or computer calling technology, there are still plenty of people who use their phone on a daily basis. For a lot of people, their phone will be their main source of contact with the world around them. This is just one of the reasons why phone scams are still so popular with criminals. Another reason why phone scams are so popular with criminals can be found in the fact that there is no face to face contact between the criminal and the victim. This allows the criminal to act removed from their actions and it also means that it can be harder for the victim to identify the criminal. All in all, the circumstances surrounding these crimes will provide plenty of opportunities for criminals to prosper.
One recent form of phone crimes has seen criminals phone up people and claiming to be the police. One victim spoke to the BBC recently about this form of crime and explained how they were duped. The victim was informed that her son had been arrested and that their son had provided a level of information of criminal gangs.

The caller then managed to persuade the victim to make two bank transfer payments which would help the police to arrest the suspects. This led to the victim paying out £4,500 and then £800. It is easy to stand outside of the situation and think how silly the victim was to fall for this crime but there is no doubt when you take a call of that nature, you will be in shock. If someone presents themselves and say that they represent the police, you can instinctively take them at face value and listen to everything that they have to say. This can obviously cause problems because it is all the opportunity that some criminals need to make money from people. There is no doubt that criminals are looking for any opportunity or possibility. With this sort of crime, they will probably be refused money in the majority of cases but that is okay if you are able to bring in more than £5,000 in one easy move.

Boiler room scams are a common form of phone fraud One of the most common forms of phone scams involving people in the United Kingdom are boiler room scams. While these crimes don’t originate in the United Kingdom, there are many locations around the world where these crimes are being committed from; there has been a focus on targeting UK residents in recent times. This is a crime that can bring in a lot of money in a short period of time so you can see why it is so enticing for criminal gangs and fraudsters.


Boiler room calls are cold calls 

The basic premise of a boiler room scam comes in the form of a cold-call and the person receiving the call having a chance to get a great offer. This is commonly in the form of a share offer but it has been known to include the offer of land. Whatever the commodity on offer is, there is a promise of a massive return for a very small investment. The potential buyer will usually be told that there is a need to buy now and that the offer won’t last very long. This usually leads into the caller using a very high pressurised level of sales tactics, so there is a need to be strong in withstanding these callers.

While there is a promise of a great return on offer for the initial investment, it turns out that the shares or land are worth nothing or worth very close to nothing. This means that people will massively miss out when it comes to their finances. Sadly, with the vast majority of these crimes being carried out by people outside of the UK, there is not much chance of recovering the money lost to these crimes. This means that there can be a very serious impact of these crimes.

When you are in the comfort of your own home and the phone goes, you don’t expect that the person on the other end of the line is going to try and defraud you. The element of surprise goes a long way when it comes to committing phone fraud and this is something that the fraudsters are very much aware of.

Author bio:
Andrew Reilly is a freelance writer with a focus on news stories and consumer interest articles. He has been writing professionally for 9 years but has been writing for as long as he can care to remember. When Andrew isn't sat behind a laptop or researching a story, he will be found watching a gig or a game of football.