SCAMMERS are impersonating real companies through fake phone numbers that are nearly the same as the real ones.
The toll-free hijacking or misdial scam is where the scammers take their chances on the victim not noticing a number is off when receiving or dialing it.
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They are doing this because it can be convincing it is legit as they will have a message that sounds like the actual company or will have someone acting as well, AT&T warned.
“The caller hears a message that sounds like the legitimate company, but it’s the bad guy impersonating the company,” the phone company said.
“The scam may offer a prize or discount, if the caller pays a small fee upfront with a credit card, such as for shipping.”
It is important to stay aware when calling official companies that may ask for personal information to protect yourself from these situations.
This includes being careful when dialing phone numbers and making sure all the numbers are right before calling, per AT&T.
The phone company has highlighted common mistakes people have run into when running into this scam.
Such as dialing the wrong toll-free prefix, accidentally hitting a number twice, hitting an adjacent number, swapping numbers like 87 instead of 78, or confusing a zero or a one with the letters O or L.
“Always think before sharing personal information, like passwords, credit card numbers, or bank account information, over the phone, in an email, or a text,” AT&T said.
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“And do not send money to someone you do not really know.
“Hang up if the call seems strange and check to make sure you dialed the right number.”
Lastly, AT&T gave a reminder that there is not much the official company can do to stop this scam due to it usually being caused by confusion or a mistake.
Although many companies work with providers to protect their official numbers when everything is dialed correctly, it added.
In other technology security news, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a warning over scammers pretending to be lovers through email.
While scammers are also using a popular clothing website as a disguise on TikTok and it may be hard to notice at first glance.
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