When In Doubt, Don't !

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Just recently, I read a very insightful post about all the scams out here that people need to be aware of. It' so unsettling just many people are scamming, but it's happening. I can say this from personal experience.

Yesterday my husband told me he kept receiving phone calls from a strange number. Because he did not recognize the number, he didn't answer. To add to the peculiarity, the person calling never left a voice mail message which usually means it's a sales call. My husband continued to receive these calls throughout the day, so he finally decided to answer. The person claimed to be calling from a very large company that we are all very familiar with. It didn't sound right to him so he told the person to please take him off the call list.

I then told him about the strange call I had received from that same company. When I received the call, the person indicated where they were from and immediately started asking me all kinds of questions about my business.

Feeling uncomfortable, I asked "before I answer any questions, since when did your company start making individual phone calls to businesses?" The person immediately hung up and I haven't heard back from them since. That lets me know the call was a scam. I've always been told - when in doubt, don't. I had doubts about providing any information, so I didn't.

I have also recently received a phone call from an agency indicating I owed them several hundreds of dollars. What?? Within a just a few minutes, I was able to determine the call was yet another scam. Once again, I did not provide any information.

There are plenty of people out there trying to scam, unfortunately. It makes me think about just how many times we are asked if WA is a legitimate business - or a scam. I see that question asked quite often and, as a matter of fact, I just answered that very question last night. I am happy to provide the WA successes that are documented because it proves WA is not a scam.

I recently read an article by Bo surrounding this very topic. He stated our websites should provide people with a scam free environment so they can learn how to build a business. That really hit home for me - especially with the two incidents I recently encountered.

As we continue to build our websites according to the wonderful training across WA, we will be the trusted authorities and become successful. That, in itself, will be the message needed to let others know what we have built is not from scamming - but from hard, legitimate work.

Continue on the road to success, everyone. Be very careful about giving information out to ANYONE. Follow your gut and remember - when in doubt, don't!

~ Yvette ~

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Recent Comments

100

I get so many calls from numbers that I don't recognize, that I pretty much never answer them. If it's important they'll leave me a message. Once in awhile I will get one that will leave me a message, but it's always the same thing about student loan forgiveness and to contact them back. I know it's a scam because I paid off my student loans 3 years ago.

Thanks for your comments. Yes, I have those loan forgiveness calls every once in a while, too. I have gotten to the point I don't answer any calls I don't recognize as well - every once in a while a call will get through - and then I block them, They just call from a different number. Once again, thanks for the comments.

The framework to our website(s) needs to establish a scam-free environment - so true! It's a challenge, however, our wonderful tech geniuses are creating platforms for us as we speak to eliminate these creatures from reaching our gold. LOL

You pointed out important details about phone scams too, as my husband and I both since January have been receiving random calls from various places and I do not answer them anymore. Unfortunately, these #s cannot be blocked as their robo calls and will never repeat the same #, using a different one each time!

We ALL must be guarded by this and continue to know that although we are creating a better life for many, many will try to create havoc, and the beauty of it, it's never an impossible solution, there is always an answer that supports the greater good!

Thank you Yvette!

Well said. You are correct with everything. I know what you mean about those calls keep rolling in from other numbers. Happens to me all the time. Keep fighting the good fight and stay on top of things as you have been. Thank you so much for the comments. Much appreciated.

One scary scam, which has been reported in CNBC.com, is that IRS is filing a lawsuit thing. It’s utter nonsense and after I received it I panicked. I’m so beneath their trouble radar and I was mortified. After I read the CNBC.com journalist who reported it fake, with good reasoning I definitely felt better.
Unfortunately it is a very well disguised threat/scam, and many Americans have fallen prey to it, especially when asked to divulge social security numbers without questioning details. The fear can grapple you, sometimes being bold, brazen and arrogant can save your money and protect your family.

ABSOLUTELY. I know someone who fell prey to that scam. It was horrible. People come up with ALL TYPES of scams....be very careful.

I had palpitations, for me any error means I can loose my child custody in a sliver of a moment. It becomes deathly to receive these scam calls, which can petrify us, more so the word ‘lawsuit’ can spell anxiety attack in less than a second .

Once again, Yvette, bringing our daily reality back to why we're here and what we're doing.
Your post makes me wonder: what safeguards does our WA platform build in to protect our sites as we build them, and after we've got them out there working for us?
I know there are ways to build in protections, but there are also ways that the most ingenious and most devious among us can subvert those protections. It's a constantly evolving battle, just like any branch of law enforcement.
I don't know any answers, but I'm curious to see what our community knows about the topic!
Tim

Tim, that is a good question. I think making sure passwords and usernames are kept in confidence is one good way as that could be problematic for sure. As far as other built in safeguards, I'm not sure about that one. As you have already identified, there are so many hacks out there and breaches happen all the time. Being very cautious is the best thing we can all do to stay as safe as possible.

Thank you for your comments.

All this is true. I have made many cold calls before but never asked for information from anybody. I had something to offer and if the person wasn’t interested I never called back. Cold calling does work but I prefer postcards now. Even when I get a call from a strange number they need to leave a voicemail or I don’t call back. Too many callers leave a message about making $10000 next week. I have never done that. Like I say I prefer postcards now as far as reaching out to people in general.

Great post, Yvette. I agree with you. Recently I received a call from a woman who said she saw that I was building a website and wanted to finish it for me! I didn't talk to her...I, too, don't answer phone calls if I don't recognize the number, and this was a message left on my voice mail. I don't know how she was able to find my name and phone number to associate it with my website. That seemed strange to me.
Carol

Hmmmm....that is definitely strange. It can be very unnerving all the information out there on the internet to find us. I would block that number for sure. I certainly hope you don't continue to get strange calls.

Me, too. Haven't had any more, but it's weird.

Hello, Yvette. Great information. I've been getting a lot of those phone calls myself. It seems now, they've even gone 1 step further. They can now make their phone number appear to come from your home area. I guess they get a better response if the number appears local. I usually ignore unfamiliar numbers the first time. If it's important, they can leave a message and I'll get right back too them. If they call again with no message, I block them. Thanks for the information.

Don

Yes, I get several calls from my area code and well and I definitely block unknown calls. There are just a few that sneak by me because of bluetooth in the car or I have my headset on and it answers automatically. Thanks for stopping by and for the comments.

Hey, I also receive many calls that I do not answer. We monitor our calls with caller id. The latest scam call received had to do with a so-called computer software company trying to sell protection for my computer.

When I told the guy calling that this sounded like a scam, he hung up and guess what, no more calls.

Yes, I know that latest scam. I have received several calls from them. I told them to take me off the list and they do, until the next year and then they start calling all over again.

Like you, I monitor calls with caller id and don't answer calls that I don't recognize. The calls come in if I have my headset on or in my car and it automatically picks up the call. That's the hard part....but it will all be just fine as long as I'm careful.

Thanks for stopping by and the comments.

Thanks for sharing your experience. If it means only one more person reading this is not caught out by fraudsters, it will be invaluable. There are so many different models of scam, and the number of small to medium businesses in particular that are defrauded of their money each year is disheartening.

You are soooo right. It is disheartening. But like you - I feel sharing is caring and the more we all know to be aware of, the better it is for us all. Thank you for the comments.

I get those calls quite a bit, and like you and your husband, sometimes I don't answer. But after the fact, I call back the number and get some generic answering service that does not mention any company name. Scammers and unfortunately people who are trying to make money without any integrity.

I enjoy this daily interaction of sharing our experiences because I believe it encourages each of us to build up our integrity especially because we are building a serious business.

Thank you for the share!

Thank you for your kind words and comments. I love these interactions, too, for the same reason. We can definitely learn from each other. Have a great day / evening.

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