This Is the Scary Reason Why You Shouldn’t Answer Calls from Strange Area Codes

It seems like telephone scamming is on the rise again, and many people are being caught off guard. While we often hear of scary Facebook scams, and even one super scary Netflix scam that happened, with less people using their phones for actual telephone calls, you’d think that phone scams are a thing of the past. Unfortunately, that’s not true, and it seems like most scams come from a few very specific area codes.

Turns out that most unknown calls coming from the Caribbean are the ones that we should be most worried about. Using an auto dialer, scammers are attempting to access all sorts of personal information, and even trying to record our voices or gain remote access to our phones via scam text.

The most popular area code for these scams? 473, which is technically the area code for the country of Grenada. But unless you know someone calling from there, any contact with numbers starting there will be a scam. Same with codes like 809, 900, 242, and various others (you can get the full list from Joseph Steinberg, master scam buster over on Inc.).

So what should you do if you answer a call from one of these numbers? Hang up immediately. If you get a text, delete it. Only your friends, family, and colleagues should be reaching out to you, and if you have never seen an area code or number before, and you aren’t expecting a call, don’t chance it.

Have you ever been duped by a scam? Tell us @BritandCo!

(h/t HelloGiggles; Photos via Dan Kitwood/Getty)