NEVER PICK UP THE PHONE – THE 5 BIGGEST PHONE SCAMS OF THE YEAR REVEALED

“Private number” - two words on a screen that turn a ringing phone into an object of annoyance. In fact, nuisance phone calls have become so big a problem that a massive 85% of Britons say they are now losing trust in ANY telephone contact with businesses.
That's according to figures from CPR Call Blocking, which found that 90% of us now prefer to be contacted by post or email rather than phone.
“Scam and nuisance phone calls continue to be a major problem for consumers and it’s often the most vulnerable people in society who are falling victim to telephone scams,” said Kris Hicks from CPR Call Blocker.
More worryingly, one person in seven of those asked lost money to scams in the past year – while most lost less than £50, one in eight ended up more than £1,000 poorer as a result of picking up the wrong phone call.
To try and stop more people falling victim, CPR Call Blocker revealed the five most prolific phone scams at the moment:
  1. Virus Hoax – being called by so-called ‘Microsoft Windows Support’ who inform you of a virus on your computer and asked for your passwords to fix it
  2. PPI refunds – being told you are owed money for mis-sold PPI payments and asked for an admin fee to proceed
  3. Prize scam – you are told you have won a large prize and are asked to pay a processing fee or call a premium rate line to claim your prize
  4. Bank account problems – someone claiming to be from the bank informs you of a problem with your account and requests security details including your PIN
  5. Noise rebate – discovering a place you once worked has been condemned as being too noisy and you are entitled to a rebate and then asked to provide personal details
http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/never-pick-up-phone--6675223