SEATTLE, May 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Neighbor Scam is growing rapidly, and scammers are also evolving the tactic to trick you to answer the phone. Based on the analysis of 5.3 billion calls per month by Hiya, the global leader in phone spam protection, the Neighbor Scam has made up more than half (56.7 percent) of all phone scams made to Hiya users between January to May 2018.
Since spam detection services like Hiya have been working hard to protect users from those spammers spoofing the first six digits, they’ve moved on to also spoofing the first five, four, or three digits in the hopes of getting consumers to pick up what appears to be a neighbor’s call.
“Scammers are never idle with their tactics and, with the Neighbor Scam, they are experimenting with all the ways to spoof their number to get consumers to pick up the phone,” said Jonathan Nelson, Director, Reputation Data of Hiya. “Many consumers are now aware of the Neighbor Scam, but it hasn’t stopped scammers from trying to be savvy and attempting to evolve the tactic by calling with similar numbers, whether it’s mimicking the first six digits down to only the area code.”
The data Hiya collected through May also identified the most common area codes being spoofed in the Neighbor Scam:
- 602 - Phoenix
- 214 - Dallas
- 832 - Houston
- 210 - San Antonio
- 404 - Atlanta
- 678 - Atlanta
- 704 - Charlotte
- 702 - Las Vegas
- 623 - Phoenix
- 407 - Orlando
Consumers should be aware of common scam techniques that fraudsters leveraging the Neighbor Scam use once they have someone on the line:
- Scare tactics - Scammers will make consumers believe that there is a warrant out for their arrest or that they inadvertently owe the IRS money in order to scare consumers into providing them with personal or financial information.
- Immediate demand of payment - Scammers create a sense of urgency so consumers believe they need to pay immediately or suffer dire consequences.
- Unrequested services - The caller offers travel discounts, interest rate adjustments, or refinancing debts that the consumer didn't request.
Hiya provides a valuable solution by helping consumers determine whether or not to pick up the phone. This includes identifying legitimate numbers by name as well as identifying and blocking known spam and scam numbers. Hiya provides an industry-first solution available on both its iOS and Android apps to protect consumers from the Neighbor Scam. Hiya automatically alerts users of its iOS app to “potential spoofers” implementing this imitation technique. Hiya users on Android can manually set up a block for the first six digits of their phone number using the "Numbers that begin with” option from their block list.
Hiya is available for free on iTunes and Google Play. To learn more about Hiya visit www.Hiya.com, and for tips to avoid these calls and what to do you if you answer them, check out Hiya’s blog post here.
About Hiya
Hiya is revolutionizing the way people make and receive phone calls. With a mission to provide a better phone experience, Hiya Caller and Business Profiles provide users with important context, giving them the right information at the right time. Through analysis of more than 5.3 billion calls per month, Hiya protects tens of millions of users from unwanted robo and spam calls globally. Hiya is available as a consumer app on Google Android and iPhone and is integrated into the phone experience for AT&T Call Protect, T-Mobile Name ID, ZTE Axon 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note8, Galaxy S9, and all A-Series and J-Series users worldwide. For more information, please visit www.hiya.com.
Liz Powell
liz@hiya.com