Experts say to stay vigilant as scam calls and texts soar

Scam calls are rampant and there’s no sign of them slowing down. With more, here’s CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco.

From fake delivery notices, job offers, to phony bank alerts, scammers have stepped up their game-flooding phones with calls and texts.

“The number of these types of messages, these types of calls that people are receiving is spiking. I’m getting them all the time,” said tech analyst Carmi Levy.

Many people are receiving phone calls and texts from unknown numbers from all over North America. Levy said a large percentage of the calls are a result of a struggling economy with high unemployment.

“Fraudsters are nothing if not creatures of opportunity,” Levy told CTV News.

“They will zero in on the types of messages that will get us to click on that link, or tap on it, or follow through or otherwise engage. The offer of a job, there are a lot of people who are hungry for work. They will follow through.”

How exactly are they getting your number?

“The sad fact of modern digital life is our contact information, including things like email addresses and phone numbers, is always out there for the taking,” Levy explained.

“Every time you hear about a security breach, chances are that’s your information that is being added to this growing pile of data that is being shared on the open internet, on the dark web, between criminals bought and sold and being used for this kind of outreach. So, all you need to do is do a quick search. Your number is already out there. Thieves know how to find you.”

Former Windsor-West MP Brian Masse fought hard against scammers while in office.

“There’s been several recommendations that we still don’t protect consumers in Canada,” said Masse.

Masse had a study on scams created but said there has been no follow-through. He feels stronger ramification on telecom companies needs to be threatened.

“There certainly is a loose approach to exposing people and their numbers. Your numbers should be protected and private and if somebody is going to sell it, then you should know that,” Masse said.

Kevin Cosgrove, a digital safety advocate, said when these calls come through, people risk having their voices cloned and used in a scam.

“Whether it’s even just your voice off your voicemail messages or something off online it’s kind of hard to put that genie back in the bottle,” he said.

Cosgrove said to protect yourself, have a safe word for family and friends for verification over the phone, or have a question that only people close to you would know the answer to.

“On the call display, they can spoof your friend’s name, they can spoof the number of your local bank branch or the CRA and so you think that it’s a legitimate caller, therefore you pick up now you’ve been hacked,” Levy added.

“First thing we’re going to want to do is reduce our data footprint. So, look at your social media accounts, think about sharing less. Don’t put all of that audio and video and imagery of yourself out there. Maybe pull it back somewhat, tighten your privacy settings so that when you share on social media, it’s only shared with people you know. Do not make your posts public.”

Cosgrove is working on creating a group that includes enforcement agencies and politicians to help in the fight against illicit behaviour.

“We’re definitely doing what we can to help keep citizens safe,” he said.

He hopes to have stakeholders in a room for a meeting in the upcoming weeks.