New Year, new scams — welcome to 2023

Welcome to scam year 2023

2023 is but a few weeks old and scam robocalls and scam messages continue to proliferate. Scammers are producing more believable ways to get people to hand over their money. They relentlessly want our personal information and, ultimately, our money. And while their tactics continue to evolve, the main ones remain the same.

Scamming is a multi-billion dollar operation and will continue to proliferate. While law enforcement is working to stop them, global scam businesses are far too big to be tamed. In June 2022, Interpol launched Operation First Light which saw 76 countries participate in an international clampdown on the organized crime groups behind social engineering and telecommunications scams.

Police in participating countries raided call centers suspected of telecommunications or scamming fraud, particularly telephone deception, romance scams, email deception, and connected financial crime. But Operation First Light only put a tiny dent in worldwide scamming.

While there are new scams in 2023, it is essential to know that the old scams are not going away. So many of the old scams work, and they will still be in everyday use. Just use common sense to avoid 90% of them. Follow these 18 tips on how not to get scammed when your phone rings to avoid being yet…