Top Three Ways to Reduce Robocalls

With the rise of coronavirus, there has been a rise in scams related to the coronavirus. Phone calls are the #1 way scammers contact people. In 2019, those who lost money lost an average of $1,000. Here are the top three ways you can reduce robocalls and exposure to scams..

Posted 12:37 p.m. May 13, 2020 — Updated 12:37 p.m. May 13, 2020

Liisa Ogburn

According to the Federal Trade Commission, who received over 3.2 million complaints in 2019, phone calls were the number one way scammers used to contact people. According to YouMail Index, almost 59 billion robocalls went out in 2019. Those who lost money reported an average loss of $1,000.

The extent of scams in 2020 may be exacerbated by the stay-at-home orders due to the pandemic. We won’t know until the end of the year. It has certainly changed the kinds of scams being used, which I detail in this earlier post.

While everyone knows there are many ways to reduce our or our parents’ exposure to scams, it is often overwhelming to decide which efforts provide the biggest bang for your buck (or results for time spent). Overwhelming tasks often result in postponed tasks.

Before the world opens back up (if you are one of the many for whom it has closed down), here are five ways you can reduce the fire hose of robocalls and junk mail and email, and possibly—as a consequence—be more likely to let in the calls and mail and emails from the people you want to hear from.