Telephone Theft Prevention Tips
Telephone Theft Prevention Tips
Latest Telephone Tips
- If you can not verify the identity of a caller, no matter who they claim to represent, you should not give away any personal information. The caller may not be the person they claim to be.
- Do not give a caller your credit card number, Social Insurance Number or any financial information.
- Do not tell strangers if you are living by yourself. If someone calls and asks to speak with a spouse who is not at home say, "he/she cannot come to the phone right now, can I take a message."
- Get into the habit of saying "WE" instead of "I" when speaking to strangers on the phone or at the door. "WE" implies that you are not alone.
- The message on you answering machine should not contain your name or state that you are not home. A good message can simply state "We appreciate you call, so please leave a message and we'll get back to you."
- Do not tell strangers when you will be away. You may be telling them about a good time to break into your home.
- If you receive a phone call stating you are a lucky winner of a prize you can't remembering entering, it's probably not true. Do not send money for any reason, (ex: tax, shipping and handling, insurance, etc.
Frequent Charity Calls?
- If you receive a call from a charity you know or have never heard of, here's what to do:
- Slow the conversation down, so you know exactly what is being said, and you are in control.
- Get the full name of the charity and the contact information of their head office.
- See if they have a web address where you can look up additional information on the work they do.
- Get their charitable registration number. With this you can verify their legitimacy with Revenue Canada. (1-800-267-2384.)
- Remember a legitimate charity will accept a donation at any time. You can always send your donation directly to the charity at a later date.
Protect Yourself from Obscene, Harassing or Threatening Phone Calls
- DON'T TALK
- HANG UP - record the time and date of the call.
- Activate the CALL TRACE - press * 57 on your touch tone phone or dial 1157.
- CALL the POLICE - provide them with date, time, frequency of the call(s).
Other handy tools available on your phone include
- * 69 - allows you to view the number of the last call into your home.
- * 67 - allows you to block your number when making a call.
Get a phone with CALL DISPLAY. This way you can see who is calling before you answer the phone.
Kings County Seniors' Safety Program
681-0048
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