Here’s Clark’s #1 Rule for Avoiding Phone Scams

Phone scams not only needlessly take up your time, but they can take your hard-earned money as well. According to one report, Americans were scammed out of billions of dollars from such ruses last year.

What can you do about phone scams? Money expert Clark Howard says he’s got a surefire way of handling potential phone scams either from calls or via text message.

• How Clark Avoids Scam Phone Calls
• How Clark Avoids Scam Phone Texts

Here’s How Clark Avoids Scam Phone Calls

Money expert Clark Howard says he’s got one surefire way of handling potential phone scams.

“Consider following my rule,” he says. “It’s a simple rule: If I don’t recognize the number as being from someone I know, I do not answer the call.”

If you do answer the call, you may be rewarded by saving precious minutes on the phone with a scammer who thinks they have a victim. See, scammers not only milk you of your hard-fought money, but they also waste your time as well.

Here’s How Clark Avoids Scam Phone Texts

When it comes to random text messages, Clark takes a super-cautious approach that’s very similar to his #1 rule for scam phone calls.

“When you receive a text and you don’t know the sender or even if you do know the sender and there’s a link in there they want you to click on, I wouldn’t click on the link unless it’s somebody you absolutely know with certainty,” he says.

Final Thoughts

By following Clark’s hardline advice on phone scams, you can stop spam calls for good as well as the many schemes that criminals come up with.

Phone scams such as “smishing,” where crooks use SMS (short message service) texts to trick people into giving them their personal information, or SIM card swapping can increase around certain times of the year, particularly during tax time and the holidays. Clark wants you to stay on guard at all times.

Read our guide on how to spot and report scam text messages.