Category Archives: Phone Scam

How trustworthy are calls from “Amazon”? tellows Insights makes new study available

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Dear tellows friends,

the tellows team is working on a new section and now regularly presents you with current statistics on calling behavior and trustworthyness for frequently reported companies.

Thousands of phone numbers are used for fraudulent purposes every day and the people called are robbed of their money. Callers often use the names of well-known brands and try to outsmart their victims.

tellows study with unique data

In a unique study we categorized Amazon related phone numbers on tellows. Data from the last 365 days from around 130 telephone numbers were evaluated.

We combine unique tellows data with expert knowledge and extensive research. On tellows, we evaluate thousands of reviews every day and create statistics and data clusters on relevant phone numbers and new scams. This allows us to focus on actual active phone numbers and quickly identify new dubious phone numbers.

Fraud calls are increasing

Fraud cases involving callers falsely posing as Amazon employees or corporate partners are on the rise. Over 50 percent of all calls reported on tellows do not come from Amazon itself. We anticipate that there will be an increased volume of fraud before Christmas.

In our study we explain to you which fraud methods are carried out by alleged Amazon employees, how you can recognize these scams and which telephone numbers are used by official Amazon employees: To the Amazon study
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Anti-Robocall Technology Becomes Effective – Will Robocalls Stop Now?

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In March 2020 the FCC approved the requirement for phone call carriers to implement the STIR/SHAKEN technology in order to stop robocalls.

The Caller ID framework includes a verification from the carrier that the caller is who he says he is. The carrier companies need to report their commitment and will receive penalties if they do not comply.

man on phone in office

What happened so far?

It is common knowledge that robocalls are illegal, but might not be obvious since they are still performed to such a heavy extend. In 1991 the Supreme Court upheld a law, but 30 years later we still struggle with those calls.

The TRACED Act passed in 2019 already lifted the fines per robocalls and introduced the STIR/SHAKEN technology to provide a reliable Caller ID for carriers. In order to reduce fraud and spam calls, the technology will display the caller ID and the person can know that it is trusted since the provider transferred the call. Fake Caller IDs can be identified.
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“We call about your extended car warranty” – Will It Ever Stop?

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Let’s be honest, any scam call is annoying and we would gladly spend our time with more pleasant matters. But one caller type that is a never-ending story is the person calling about your car warranty. You might not even have a car, but keep getting calls about your car warranty and insurance.

car warranty contract

What do they want?

It’s a robocall classic and seems to be one of the most reported types of spam calls. Of course, you may have a car and you may have a warranty, but do you know the status? How to determine whether the call is an actual scam call or legitimate?
Calls about car warranties often come from call centers or directly as a robocall with no real person at the other end of the line. They impost your car dealer or insurance company and inform you about your expired warranty and try to sell you new ones. They don’t know your real warranty and they are not affiliated with your car dealer. The only goal is to make you feel anxious about your warranty expiration and to cover you quickly, they offer a new warranty contract with crucial conditions.
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Voting scams during the 2020 election – be aware of robocalls

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It is not a secret that phone calls are an exemplary marketing technique to earn voters. They are not just part of a presidential election, but especially in the months before the election those campaigns reach their peak. And with those, many fraudsters sniff their chance to get in contact with people and scam them on the behalf of the election. We report about the most common scams and what you can do to avoid them.

election 2020 robocall

Just in July this year we reported that the U.S. Supreme Court held up a rule for the long-awaited ban of robocalls to mobiles in context to political advertisement among others. While in 2015 it was paused for exceptions, the majority of the court voted for an ongoing ban of robocalls.

While the FCC already ruled the limitation of automated calls and texts as well as pre-recorded voice calls referring to political campaigns to mobile phones without prior consent, many US citizens still encounter robocalls without giving consent. While there are lots of genuine calls about political campaigns, scammers are always taking their chance to make money out of credulous citizens.

Different kinds of political scam calls

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Scammer vs. doctor – How can you tell a legitimate call from a fraud during the pandemic?

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Hello everyone! As you already know, there are lots of phone scammers who use the coronavirus to get your data, your money or both. But there is something new that is related to the COVID-19 pandemic, that you need to know about: Coronavirus contact tracing program!

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Coronavirus Scam – What you need to know!

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We are all experiencing an unprecedented pandemic worldwide and it makes us more vulnerable toward scammers, as we all care about our health and are looking for the latest update of the coronavirus. How scammers are taking advantages of the pandemic? As we are desperate for information of the virus, scammers are now trying all they can. Let’s have a look at the following example, stay safe from the virus and also the scammers!

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How to know if the call is a Tax Scam?

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FacebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmailDear tellows’ friends,

The IRS scam is frustrating, but we would like to inform you about the tax scam season again. It is back, and the scammers are continuously trying new methods. In 2019 the total loss of tax preparers reported to FTC is amounted to $7.3M with a median loss of $518, and the top contact method by scammers is by phone. How do we protect ourselves from the scammers?


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Smishing – the SMS Spam Message

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FacebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmailDear tellows friends,

We hope you had a wonderful start of 2020! As it is almost February, tellows would like to inform you about the latest phone fraud. Smishing, which is also known as SMS scam, has been raising concern in the US, as many reported that scammers sent endless text messages to trick them. Therefore, tellows also added a new caller type for you to choose from when reporting a spam call – the SMS Spam.


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Stay Away from Gift Card Scam!

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FacebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmailHello everyone! Today we would like to remind you about the gift card scam. The holiday season has just passed and there are more and more reports regarding gift card scams, which raise concern. Therefore tellows would like to provides some details about it.


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