Beyond Connected [Ep. 29] Google search led to a costly scam call

Welcome back to Beyond Connected! Thanks for listening in, and if you like what you hear, come back every Wednesday for a new episode.

Rosette needed to file a travel insurance claim, so she did what anyone would do: she Googled the phone number. Someone picked up immediately, sounded completely professional, and asked for her credit card and date of birth. It wasn’t until the pricing felt off and a confirmation email didn’t match the official website that she realized she’d been talking to a scammer the entire time. This is called a search result scam, and it’s one of the fastest-growing fraud tactics happening right now, and it’s hiding at the very top of your Google results.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

• How scammers buy fake ads on Google to put fraudulent phone numbers at the top of your search results
• Why an instant answer is actually a red flag, not a sign you reached the right place
• What Rosette noticed that stopped the scammer before her card was charged
• How to find a real company’s phone number without falling into a search result trap
• Why your credit card number, combined with your date of birth, puts you at serious risk even without an immediate charge
• What to do the moment you think you’ve given your information to the wrong person
• How real-time transaction alerts on your banking app can catch fraud before it spreads

For more tips on how to stay safe from being scammed by a fake Google number, read our article here

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