Our phones are one of the ways we interact with the rest of the world, but they can also be a doorway to trouble. Gary Crawford has more.

PARTICIPANTS: Gary Crawford. Kansas State University Extension educator, Barbara Stockebrand. Classic comedians, Jack Benny and Sheldon Leonard.

Transcript

Before mass telemarketing technology and before computers and cell phones, you could meet a person and possibly get some clues that maybe he or she was a scam artist.

Like the one that classic comedian Jack Binney would encounter at the racetrack, or in this case, at a restaurant at the racetrack.

And I'll teach you at number one.

Table number one, thank you.

Hey bud.

Huh?

You gonna eat here?

Yeah.

What table?

Table one.

Uh-uh.

Take number nine.

Why?

What's wrong with table one?

It's in a bad position.

It's on the rail.

Now look at the breeding on table number nine.

The breeding?

It's by Bide's Eye Maple out of Grand Rapids. [laughter] Definitely a scammer played for laughs there.

But when you are scammed for real, it is not a laughing matter.

And many times, it starts simply with... [phone ringing] Hopefully you have caller ID. [phone ringing] And if so...

Don't answer calls from unfamiliar numbers.

I'm here with Kansas State University Extension Educator Barbara Stockbrand.

She says 65 percent of the complaints to the Federal Trade Commission concern telemarketing calls.

And most all of the telemarketing centers are not even in this country.

So they are out of the jurisdiction of our government.

So Barbara says it's up to us to protect ourselves.

And she says these call centers have technology to generate what are called spoof calls. [phone ringing] They're rerouted so that they look like a local number.

And the cameras know that if it looks like a local number, their targets are more likely to answer those.

I've gotten actually marketing calls supposedly for my own phone number.

That was weird.

So best thing to do, don't answer.

If you do answer, sometimes they will very nicely offer to take your phone number out of the list for future calls.

That sounds quite neighborly, but...

Don't even consider this option.

By taking the steps to opt out, you're confirming that there's someone on the other side of that phone that they have called.

And that is something they're hoping for, so that they can actually use that number to call your number again in the future, or maybe even sell your number to other telemarketers.

And Barbara says we call them telemarketers, but in most cases they aren't marketing any legitimate product.

They're trying one way or another to get money out of us, and there are a million ways to do it.

Someone calling from Social Security, needing your personal information, or confirming that.

Or the IRS with threats of arrest, possibly if outstanding taxes aren't paid.

A friend or a grandchild is in trouble and in need of money immediately.

Vehicle warranties that are about to expire.

Possibly an investment scam where money can be made quickly and easily by investing.

So she says whatever the scam, it's designed to get either our money or our personal information, and indeed, most folks know how to do it.

Scammers are masters of persuasion.

They say whatever they can to gain your trust.

They keep the pressure on, and they refuse to take no for an answer.

So best thing, don't answer the call.

Next best thing, hang up.

Next time, we'll delve a little more into some of the sneakier scams out there.

This is Gary Crawford reporting for the U.S.

Department of Agriculture.