Tips to prevent phone extortion

In the news we hear stories of some people who receive calls from strangers who tell them that they have one of their relatives “caught by the authorities for the illegal possession of a firearm”, and ask them to deposit a certain amount of money in an account to set him free.

Other stories speak of being asked to recharge telephone lines with large sums of money; And so there are many forms of extortion that plague citizens, who sometimes comply with the request out of fear or simply remain silent. While others report to the authorities.

To avoid getting involved in this type of situation, keep in mind the following recommendations:

• If someone calls you and says that one of your family members has been kidnapped or is in trouble, stay calm and listen carefully to the extortionist’s arguments.
• Try to locate the family member involved and tell them what happened. If you managed to establish communication with him and you receive a new call, hang up.
• If the call was made to your home, pick up the phone for a couple of hours.
• Teach your children or domestic staff not to provide personal or family information over the phone to strangers.
• Inform your family, friends and neighbors about this problem; prevention and communication are the best tools to prevent you from being a victim of this crime.